Cities’ Performances

A new study by a pair of researchers at UVA helps quantify our collective impression that the City is getting better.

Using Census data, William Lucy and David Phillips compare economic characteristics in 22 cities with the same characteristics in their metropolitan areas between 2000 and 2004. Cities have ranked behind their suburbs in most income measures since the 1960s — and the gaps have been widening at every Census. The authors present evidence, however, that some US cities — including ours — are rebounding and doing better within their regions.

According to the authors, the City’s relative percentage of the St. Louis region’s per capita income and our median housing values both increased — jumps attributed by the authors to the increase in downtown’s population and by the appeal of modestly priced housing in great neighborhoods.

Read the study for yourself. It isn’t a perfect report, but it is certainly food for thought.