Were the peak population levels of 1960s US cities due to overpopulation?

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

Chicago: Households +9% Units +6% Population +1.9%

NYC: Households +8% Units +8% Population +7.7%

Just a guess, but pretty confident that NYC growth includes a much greater share of immigrants and Orthodox and Chi growth includes a greater share of young hipster/professionals/yuppies/whatever you want to call them.

So Chi can produce more households but less population growth, as there are more Beckys and Chads in Lakeview and Wicker Park and fewer Shulems and Rivkas with eight kids. Also Chicago immigration rates dropped off more than in NYC.

I suspect even the gentrified NYC neighborhoods have higher household sizes, as there's a lot more apartment sharing/boarding somewhere like Williamsburg compared to Bucktown. And NYC probably has a lot more Beckys and Chads than Chi, but it's more lost in the mix, given the other demographic factors and 3x the population.