Your city's social greography

[Docere]

Describe your city's social geography (i.e. rich west, poor east) as succinctly as possible.

(Yeah, I know "it's more complicated than that" but the point is to see how accurate the most simplistic descriptions can be.

[JManc]

Houston:

Historically wealthier west of downtown while poorer/ working classes east of downtown; plants and refineries.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Central: poor, although some well off and some very rich near the park
Northwest: well off
North: poor
NorthEast: poorer
East: poor to well off
SouthEast: rich, richer as you get further southeast
South: rich
SouthWest: rich, some well off now
West: poor to well off

This may be my stereotypes showing up.

[Steely Dan]

Chicago:

Northside: you might get shot
Southside: you'll probably get shot
Westside: you WILL get shot

[mrnyc]

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by Docere

Describe your city's social geography (i.e. rich west, poor east) as succinctly as possible.

(Yeah, I know "it's more complicated than that" but the point is to see how accurate the most simplistic descriptions can be.

Hills/Flats

Coastal/Inland

Westside/Eastside

[Docere]

Toronto: Affluent core/central corridor, lower income working class NW and eastern (Scarborough) periphery

[Crawford]

NYC is too complicated.

For Detroit, it's:

Northeast- Polish-Italian-German working/lower middle class former Reagan Democrats- bungalowland

North- WASP and Jewish Upper Class, and former streetcar suburbia- urbane suburbia

Northwest- Upper middle class Catholic whites and Asians- McMansions and malls

West- Middle class Catholic whites, Arabs and some working class Appalachian whites- boring 70's-80's-era suburbia

Downriver (Southwest)- Working class Hungarians, Poles, Mexicans and Appalachian whites- factories and slab homes

Black community is in every direction but SW, in and near city proper, and in all older factory towns (Pontiac, Inkster, Mt. Clemens, etc.). Upper class blacks are assuming a plurality in a suburban sliver where North meets Northwest.

[badrunner]

Good side of town: Cocaine, LSD, Marijuana
Wrong side of town: Meth, Crack, Opiates

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Crawford

North- WASP and Jewish Upper Class, and former streetcar suburbia- urbane suburbia

Northwest- Upper middle class Catholic whites and Asians- McMansions and malls

What do you consider Northwest vs North?

[Crawford]

But if I actually followed the thread directions, it would be something like this for Detroit:

North/Northwest- desirable

Everywhere else- not nearly as desirable

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

What do you consider Northwest vs North?

For Detroit, I'd consider places like Birmingham, Bloomfield, Royal Oak as "north", and places like Novi, Northville, South Lyon as "northwest". Kinda the traditional "favored quarter" vs the more emerging one.

[iheartthed]

NYC:

In Manhattan, 59th/60th is roughly the epicenter of rich, and it gets less rich as you go north or south from there. On the east side it gets a little more rich going north, before getting less rich and then abruptly poor. On the west side it is more of an even transition from rich to poor, directly in proportion to distance from Midtown. South of 59th/60th, it gets a little less rich on both the east and west sides, but remains relatively rich with some pockets of really poor mixed in.

For Brooklyn, the closer to Manhattan the richer. It gets less rich as you go farther into the borough in all directions, more abruptly less rich going directly east, though. And there are some spots of rich-ish deep in the borough, such as Midwood.

For Queens, up until a decade ago, the poorest areas were closest to Manhattan. Now it mostly follows the same pattern as Brooklyn, but has a higher density of upper middle class sfh neighborhoods in the far eastern parts of the borough.

For the Bronx, the closest areas to Manhattan were the poorest, and that mostly hasn't changed. The richest area is the far north and west corner near the Westchester County border.

I don't know Staten Island well enough to opine.

[PoshSteve]

Cleveland city - east side poor, west side rich / Cleveland suburbs - east side rich, west side poor. (extremely generalized)

[TexasPlaya]

I live in Austin, I'm not really sure where teh poors live any more. I can't think of anywhere in Austin where I would feel unsafe driving around while I can think of several in Houston.

Austin:
West- Hill Country affluence
North- Tech Industry affluence and middle class
East- more working/middle class. People are finally realizing you can build and live in east austin.
South- Working/middle class. Lots of super commuters along the SA-ATX corridor.

[Buckeye Native 001]

West/Central/Downtown Flagstaff: Rich and college students
East Flagstaff: Lower middle class/poor

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by badrunner

Hills/Flats

Coastal/Inland

Westside/Eastside

It's going to be interesting to see the Eastside in the next 5-15 years.
Although places like Silver Lake Highland Park/Echo Park/Eagle Rock are also hilly areas.

At some point, Westlake will get gentrified. When? Who knows, but it's impossible to see it staying that way for much longer. The Purple Line extension will play a role in it, for sure.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Docere

Toronto: Affluent core/central corridor, lower income working class NW and eastern (Scarborough) periphery

Confirmation?

[Crawford]

For the Toronto map, I'm surprised that the northern reaches of North York are in the low-income tertile. The area seems pretty middle class. Immigrant heavy but not really different from areas south to the 401.

Also, I always thought the west side of the GTA was the favored side, but doesn't appear so. The region's wealth seems pretty evenly divided by Yonge. Maybe in terms of urbanity, west is best, but not in terms of socioeconomics.

[Atlas]

This is pretty accurate: