Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
^I get Newark, because Northern Jersey, but what puts Wilmington so far above Boston and Providence? Proximity to Philly and Baltimore?
Also, which Philly suburb is best comparable to Randolph (34k population, 45% black, $82k median household income)?
——————
Edit: My post below about Wilmington’s county vs Boston’s made me want to drill down more into Philly’s vs Boston’s suburbs.
Norfolk County is blacker, more populous, and slightly wealthier than Chester County. Plymouth County is blacker, less populous, and slightly less wealthy than Montgomery County. Delaware County is admittedly much blacker than any Boston-area county outside of Suffolk. On the flip side, even Boston’s least black suburb (Middlesex) is blacker that Bucks County and a lot wealthier. Though Essex is closer in size to Bucks and less wealthy.
Gloucester and Burlington Counties are pretty black and wealthy, but both (especially Gloucester) have very small populations compared to the MA counties.
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 01-04-2021 at 10:45 PM..
^I get Newark, because Northern Jersey, but what puts Wilmington so far above Boston and Providence? Proximity to Philly and Baltimore?
That's part of it (actually, it's technically a part of Philly's MSA), but it also has a relatively lower COL and black people make up a larger proportion of the total population.
That's part of it (actually, it's technically a part of Philly's MSA), but it also has a relatively lower COL and black people make up a larger proportion of the total population.
Just so you know, Newark is not cheaper than Providence (maybe only pre-pandemic? RI has shot up)
OP's mid-Atlantic list was redundant. He said so himself, he didn't realize at first how it was all the same place.
Newark is NY. Jersey City is NY. They're within 15 miles from each other, all three.
Wilmington and Philly is redundant... that's like a 30-35 minute drive. It's not technically part of the MSA it's well within the MSA and nearby (30 mi).
That's part of it (actually, it's technically a part of Philly's MSA), but it also has a relatively lower COL and black people make up a larger proportion of the total population.
Fair enough. I’ll point out that Suffolk County is only a little less black than New Castle County and it has 250,000 more people. But New Castle covers a much larger area and (with a few noteworthy exceptions) Boston’s suburbs tend to be much less black than the city proper.
Fair enough. I’ll point out that Suffolk County is only a little less black than New Castle County and it has 250,000 more people. But New Castle covers a much larger area and (with a few noteworthy exceptions) Boston’s suburbs tend to be much less black than the city proper.
Tend to be but that’s changing Everett’s like 19% black and Malden is 18% so that’s in the neighborhood. And Brockton and a Randolph are obviously much blacker.
True. Does seem weird for “suburbs” to be a category in that case, though. Like Newark, Jersey City, and New York all have the same suburbs.
Hopefully the OP will come back to clarify.
Wilmington, OTOH, does have suburbs of its own, even if it has become a satellite city along the lines of Newark, Brockton or Lynn.
I haven't gone through the entire discussion, but IMO one reason Philadelphia, which I did vote for, may not be doing as well as I think it ought to be is this: Affluent Blacks make up a lower percentage of the region's Black population than they do in Boston or New York.
I'm not familiar enough with where Boston's affluent Blacks live to come up with an analogue, but East Oak Lane is a drop of water in a largely middle- and working-class sea. You will find some affluent Blacks in parts of Germantown and Mount Airy too, but it's my impression that they don't form an enclave as formidable as, say, Prince George's County (which no other region on the Northeast Corridor has — as post #2 stated, by leaving the Baltimore/Washington region out, the OP omitted the obvious best answer to this question).
However, I will point out that Mount Airy here enjoys a (still deserved) reputation for integration that AFAICT no other affluent Black enclave has. And it is a family-friendly area with low crime. (I do acknowledge here that violent crime especially has risen over the past two or three years in Philadelphia, but it's on the rise in many other large cities as well.)
Edited to add: Oops! I think BostonBornMassMade tripped over himself in post #33. Wilmington is part of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Camden MSA. But see above: it's further away from Center City Philadelphia than Newark is from NYC and it does have its own suburbs in its county, New Castle. (I commuted from my then-residence in Center City to a job in downtown Wilmington for six months in the early 2000s. It's a 55-minute trip on SEPTA Regional Rail [Delaware pays SEPTA to operate regional rail service across northern New Castle County. I can assure you that the riders boarding the trains at Churchmans Crossing and Newark are not bound for Pennsylvania, nor are those boarding at Claymont. One could make a case for considering Wilmington separately from Philadelphia.)
I don't really have a dog in this fight but what about DC?
See posts #1 and #2.
I echoed post #2 in my own post immediately above yours.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.