DC Has the Second Fastest-Whitening Zip Code in the US

• June 12, 2012
• 12 Comments

by Shilpi Paul

Big Bear Cafe in Bloomingdale

Three zip codes in DC showed up on a list ranking the fastest “whitening” neighborhoods in the United States, with 20001 taking the second highest rank.

Michael Petrilli from the Thomas Fordham Institute raked through Census data to find areas that have seen the biggest increase in the percentage of white residents between 2000 and 2010. (He discusses the changes as gentrification, although that is related to income, not race.)

UrbanTurf pulled out the DC-specific information from the chart. We also calculated the percent increase in the proportion of white residents:

When ranked according to percent increase, which the author does not do, 20001 has the second highest percent increase, with Chattanooga, TN taking the top spot. The numbers for 20001 are staggering: the proportion of white residents in that area has increased almost sixfold.

20001 encompasses a large swath of land east of 11th Street NW including Shaw, Bloomingdale and Mount Vernon Square, 20010 is Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights, and 20005 covers Logan Circle and the area just south of it.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc_has_the_second_fastest_whitening_zip_code_in_the_us/5645

12 Comments

1. Reggie P Apple said at 8:52 pm on Tuesday June 12, 2012:
   Surely whites moving into a black area and driving black people out should be classed as a hate crime? Why is Obama not doing any thing about this?

1. Delia Marie said at 9:18 pm on Tuesday June 12, 2012:
   What on earth are you talking about Reggie?!? You make it seem like the 'white folk' are physically forcing the 'black folk' to leave at gun point. Those allegations are ignorant. Your comment makes YOU sound like a racist that would be apart of a 'hate crime'. People move to places they can afford & people who can't afford to live there, move out. Money talks, end of story. And when I say the word 'people' Reggie, I'm speaking about human beings as a human race & not just a specific race. Open your mind and perspectives man.

1. Bernie Mac said at 9:45 pm on Tuesday June 12, 2012:
   Wow ^, someone obviously didnt get the joke.

1. Kevon said at 10:48 pm on Tuesday June 12, 2012:
   lol "Delia Marie" clearly fails at sarcasm.

1. B Kelp said at 12:22 am on Wednesday June 13, 2012:
   I'm confused, is this from some tv show or something? Bernie Mac I'm guessing. Well I live in one of those areas where this isn't a joke. There's obvious tensions between the white people moving in and the older black families aren't as welcoming, so far. I may be old fashioned but the days of joking about this stuff should be left to the television writers, not used to mock on a blog. Just my opinion. Trying to keep it clean and not offend people, as it seems you have clearly done. -BK

1. T said at 1:48 am on Wednesday June 13, 2012:
   Let's be clear, this is GENTRIFICATION..I am a resident in the Bloomingdale area for many years, I've watched all of the changes that have taken place in my area, including several black families leaving because they can't afford to live here.

1. Gus said at 3:15 am on Wednesday June 13, 2012:
   Are you serious? Did your editors have no problem with you using the term "whitening"? What the hell kind of story is this? If a zip code had the most black or Hispanic people moving into it, would you report on it? Would you use terms like "blackening" or "tanning" in the title? Of course you wouldn't! You probably wouldn't even run the story. I find the title offensive and I'm not even white!

1. (Another) Gus said at 5:06 am on Wednesday June 13, 2012:
   I have to agree with the other Gus. I am shocked by the usage of the term "whitening". It is racist and offensive. Most importantly, I think it reveals a little about the perspective of those who begrudge the increasing multicultural nature of the DC community. That being said... Although not completely inseparable, gentrification is about class not race. It is neither unique to DC, nor are black communities the only ones displaced. I have been displaced several times since moving to DC over 15 years ago. I am not black. And, I am not happy about it. But, I do realize that this is part of living in a city that is constantly growing and changing. I find it striking that many focus solely on the last 50 years of history of this city when laying claim to it. This is America's city. Our city. No one group can lay claim to it (especially to the exclusion of others). I take pride in that.

1. Someone said at 3:01 pm on Wednesday June 13, 2012:
   This story should be about demographic changes as a whole - not just about "where whitey is moving." I would like to see other info like average age and number of people in the household (i.e. families versus non-families). My biggest concern for 20001 is density. I would hate to see all of these single-family row homes become 3 or 4 unit condos like in Dupont, Logan, Adams Morgan, etc. I live on Warner St in a small 2 bedroom 1.5 bath house. The whole row on my side of the street has the same footprint and hopefully the houses are too small to convert. I like that. I also like that I can park in front of my house easily. I like that I know all my neighbors. I like that I can walk to places. I like that I can BBQ in my backyard. I like that I can sit in front of my house and say "hi" to the people who walk by. Isn't that the really beauty of 20001? It's really close to the best DC has to offer but with a slightly residential feel. I think that is something that all the residents of 20001 appreciate regardless of race.

1. LaszloB said at 9:34 pm on Wednesday June 13, 2012:
   So sensationalistic! The attention grabbing headline is most unpleasant...but the author's goal was reached .. I read it. I wonder if the study actually looked more deeply than sheer racial makeup .. what about density for example .. as mentioned earlier, many homes in 20001 (which is not only Bloomingdale BTW) have been subdivided and condoized, and new buildings gone up. And if this trend was not heading to "more white" would this even be published? Demographic change is an interesting topic, to be sure, but presented in this little snippet is not telling anybody's whole story.

1. xmal said at 5:42 am on Thursday June 14, 2012:
   The headline isn't racist---it's racIAL. I agree with Someone and Laszlo that without additional demographic information, the study unfortunately does not provide enough context and even invites the reader to put value ("whitening = good" or "whitening = bad") on what is basically an anecdote---which is racIST. What do other folks think? Also, regarding gentrification/densification, I'm not sure if people in opposition are thinking of the big picture. I understand that you and your family enjoy your rowhouse and its location, but if such a house is divided up, two or four families will be able to enjoy it. Is your happiness worth 2 or 4x more than theirs? Sure, negative impacts should be be mitigated (e.g., capping the number of parking permits), and government should never promote the displacement of people (e.g. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2009/03/forced_out_exposed_the_dark_si_1.html). But ultimately housing is something traded on the open market and unless people are proposing that housing be allocated through residency permits or that current residents receive subsidies, I think it's inevitable that housing prices in a central location will go up to the point where some people may not afford them. Rather than griping over something that is more or less beyond anyone's control and that has happened time and time again (displacement of sailors from Georgetown, or artists from SoHo), can anyone suggest how longtime residents can take advantage of these changes? Or how old and new residents can come together to create a better community?

1. Gruger said at 7:06 am on Monday June 18, 2012:
   This article is misleading. The report is about gentrification. The problem is that the report uses increasing white population to measure gentrification, which is a function of economics, not race. A much better metric would be the decrease in low income people in each zip code.