Who are the People in Your Neighborhood?
Reader, commenter and Thayer Avenue resident David S. took it upon himself to learn more about the demographics of Thayer Avenue by delving into publicly-available census data and compiling some interesting information. Here is a brief snapshot from the larger document which can be downloaded below.
According to the 2000 Census, 2570 people (1220 males and 1350 females) live along Thayer Avenue between Fenton Street and Dale Drive. The median age of Thayer Avenue residents is 37 years old.
Thayer Avenue consists of 1155 housing units and, as anyone who lives or has visited Thayer Avenue knows, the housing stock is a mix of detached houses and apartments. Census blocks 1002, 20006, and 3003, consists mainly of apartment buildings and have an average of 324 housing units per census block. The other six census blocks along Thayer Avenue consist mainly of detached houses and have an average of 42 housing units per census block.
Thayer Avenue is home to 1260 households (a household includes all of the people who occupy a hosing unit) and 545 of these households consist of individuals living alone. Another 116 households consist of non-family members living together. (A family includes a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption). 545 families live on Thayer Avenue and 157 of these families consist of married couples with children under 18.
According to the 2000 Census, Thayer Avenue’s population is 46% African-American, 32% White, 18% Latino, and 7% Asian. In addition, 7% of respondents indicated that they are of 2 or more races. American Indian and Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders comprised less than 1% of the Thayer Avenue population.
Are there any apparent demographic differences between those Thayer Avenue residents that live in apartments and those residents that live in detached homes?
The differences do not appear to be appreciable. The total non-white population of the census tracts where apartment buildings predominate is 70%, whereas the total non-white population of the blocks where detached homes predominate is 61%. The average household size of the residents in the blocks with mostly detached homes is 2.23 persons whereas the average household size of the apartment dwellers is somewhat smaller (2.10 persons). The ratio of families to the total population in both areas is similar.
If the 2000 Census’ data is still relatively accurate, than Thayer Avenue’s residents comprise a portrait of America’s diversity. We’re younger and older, single and coupled, living alone and living with family members, and we’re a cross-section of races and ethnicities. If data on income, national origin, and languages spoken were available at the block level, it is likely that there would be many differences in these areas.
The documents below show comprehensive census information and track maps relative to the information above. I highly recommend you look to see the specific area maps and caveats to the data.
Thayer Avenue Census Data (165K MS Word doc)
Thayer Ave Excel Data (24K MS Excel doc)
11 comments Digg this11 Comments so far
Eric, thanks for posting this. I’d love to hear from readers living on or off Thayer Avenue. Do you think the demographics of Thayer Avenue have changed much since 2000? Would you see value in creating more opportunities for residents to interact, like a Thayer Avenue block party? Would the Avenue benefit from having its own block organization, seperate from the East Silver Spring Citizens Association? Should 2500 people feel any sense of solidarity with one another just because they share a street address?
How about a Bonfant v. Thayer beer pong tournament?
This seems to shoot down the complaint that Silver Spring is losing it’s cultural diversity.
Thayer would school Bonifant at Beer Pong in a heartbeat.
And while several years have passed since the census, I can’t imagine there has been any dramatic change in population. I see everyone walk by on their way to the metro, and it’s a lot more diverse than other nearby communities who describe themselves that way (read: Takoma Park).
b: Cultural diversity != racial diversity. There is, for example, a world of difference between a black person (or use your own PC term, whatever) who grew up in an upper-middle-class suburb with well-off parents and a recent African immigrant. And just because me and someone else are both white doesn’t mean we’re culturally the same (I’m an Orthodox Jew, for instance. Isn’t that culture?).
Although census information on income, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and other components that could be assembled under the banner of “cultural diversity” are not available at the block level, I believe Thayer Avenue has plenty of cultural diversity as well as racial diversity.
At the same time, I anticipate that the rising home prices of Silver Spring will make it even more difficult for a household to purchase a home on Thayer Avenue unless at least one household member has a well-paying white collar job. I’m guessing that there will be less socioeconomic diversity amongst the homeowners on the block in the future.
Diversity dishmersity. As long as Silver Spring remains a place where anyone can move in without being stopped by bigotry, that should be enough. Dwelling on “diversity” serves only to deepen the divide between races and other groups.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see that there’s no significant difference between the demographic makeup of the apartment-dwellers and homeowners (and renters). Eight years later, though, I’m wondering if there is a bigger difference now. My own experience of the neighborhood in the last few years suggested that there might be– which was why I was surprised by these results.
But, as DMZ observes, cultural diversity is another important component. Just given the range of food served at our neighborhood potlucks, I’d say that Thayer Ave. is plenty diverse! (Being something of an omnivore myself, I’m always intrigued by the way dietary habits and restrictions reflect people’s cultural roots and experiences.)
I can see Springvale Roader’s point about an emphasis on diversity serving to deepen the divide, and I do think that sometimes it can lead to “tokenism.” But as the parent of a young child, I think it’s important that my daughter not grow up thinking that the world is monochromatic and monolithic. Whether the diversity is racial, cultural, religious, or socioeconomic, she needs to see that other people live and work and think in many different ways.
And if surveys like this can confirm that people of difference races and income levels *are* moving into the area without being stopped by bigotry, then they’ve served their purpose. If it showed something different, then we might be forced to conclude that our friend IHateYuppies is right, and that we on Thayer Avenue need to take a long look at our lily-white, Republican-voting, SUV-driving, Bethesda-wannabe selves!
DMZ Yes, I realize that the study was based on race, but it wasn’t very far back that Blacks and Hispanics were not allowed in these communities. I find it sad to think that a non white person would give up the posative aspects and traditions of the culture they grew up in to be “just like us”. Blacks and Hispanics of my age grew up in a culture far removed from the white bread world that was my childhood, and I find the difference refreshing and benificial to everyone. As a child in Rotal Oak, Detroit we were the only non Jewish family on the block. We lived next to a Jewish bakery and I was teethed on fresh bagles. I have friends of different races and religions who are well respected and far better of than I, but that doesn’t mean that they forgot their past traditions which are forign to my upbringing, and to me that is culture diversity and a very posative influence on the Silver Spring community.
[...] it now. How many young families are here? What’s the level of the minority population? We’ve addressed these questions before, but not in terms of neighborhood representation in ESSCA. I’d wager, other than children [...]
[...] may recall back in the spring of 2008, we had a guest post from our resident Census Geek about demographics on Thayer Avenue and the surrounding area. Very interesting information, and [...]