Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

DC Overcrowded: 1950 vs. 2013

  • July 18th 2013

by UrbanTurf Staff

DC Overcrowded: 1950 vs. 2013: Figure 1
11th and Kenyon Street NW, circa 1951. Courtesy of Ghosts of DC.

A recent Greater Greater Washington article uses science fiction and statistics to paint a picture of just how much more crowded and family-oriented DC used to be.

With the help of the 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still, author Payton Chung illustrates how 800,000 residents fit within the city’s borders back then. Below we plucked out a few interesting statistics, but the full article is worth your time.

  • Approximately 14 percent of the city’s housing units were considered overcrowded in 1950 (more than one person a room). In 2011, that number had dropped to 4.7%.
  • The population in DC dropped from approximately 800,000 in 1950 to 617,000 in 2011. GGW points out that the recent number would’ve been closer to 477,000 if almost 75,000 new housing units had not been built.
  • There were three times as many married households with children in 1960 as there were households with singles. Fifty years later, singles now outnumber married households 5.5 to 1.

Similar Posts:

See other articles related to: ghosts of dc, greater greater washington

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc_overcrowded_1950_vs._2013/7334.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Visit guides.urbanturf.com or start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse