Featured Image
Photo/Ted Eytan. Used with permission.

This GIF Shows How The D.C. Area’s Demographics Have Changed Since 1970 | DCist

January 14, 2020
  • D.C. Policy Center

On January 14, 2020, the D.C. Policy Center’s article, How the region’s racial and ethnic demographics have changed since 1970, was cited by DCist:

new analysis published by the D.C. Policy Center visualizes just how the broader area’s demographics have changed over the past half-century or so.

“In 1970, almost everyone lived in a neighborhood that was either entirely black or entirely white,” says D.W. Rowlands, a human geography graduate student at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “And now, west of 16th Street, most areas are pretty racially mixed. East of 16th Street, there are still some pockets that are almost entirely African American. But there’s a lot more mixing of different groups than there used to be.” (16th Street NW runs along a large swath of Rock Creek Park, which for decades served as a divider of race and class.)

Rowlands used census data from 1970-2010, as well as 2017 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, to determine where people of different racial backgrounds live. The next census is slated for this year, as it occurs each decade, and Mayor Muriel Bowser has allocated grant money to ensure that so-called hard-to-count populations get counted.

Read more: This GIF Shows How The D.C. Area’s Demographics Have Changed Since 1970 | DCist

Related: How the region’s racial and ethnic demographics have changed since 1970 | D.C. Policy Center

Author

D.C. Policy Center


Established in 2016, the D.C. Policy Center is a non-partisan research and policy organization committed to advancing policies for a strong and vibrant economy in the District of Columbia. Through rigorous research and collaboration, the D.C. Policy Center develops and tests policy ideas, disseminates its findings, and engages in constructive dialogue and debate.

For more information, please see our About page.