Who is Involved?
What makes up a neighborhood? The truth is, neighborhoods in general are made up of diverse breakdowns of people. In most American neighborhoods today, there are a variety of different peoples. This includes everything from age to race to income levels and everything in between.
Williamsburg is no exception to this rule, but as a neighborhood undergoing gentrification its demographics have recently undergone a significant change from where they stood only a few years ago. Before we can examine the stories of individual groups or people living in Williamsburg, we must first form an overall picture of what the neighborhood looks like.
Figure 1: Racial Demographics (InfoShare)
The above graph (fig. 1) is a visual representation of the racial demographics of Williamsburg as of 2011. As can be seen, Whites and Latinos are by far the largest racial groups in Williamsburg, while Asian and Black or African-American persons consist of only a small minority of the population. Persons of other race include those who identify as Native American, Pacific Islander, two or more races, or other races.
Figure 2: Median Income (InfoShare)
Immediately evident in this bar graph (fig. 2) is the disparity in the income levels between different racial groups in Williamsburg. The White and Asian communities each have median incomes of just under $50,00, a stark contrast to the median incomes of the Hispanic and Black communities, each of which is under $30,000. Thus, while the overall neighborhood’s median income is nearly $35,000 we can clearly see that such a number does not paint an accurate picture of any racial group in Williamsburg. One of the most intriguing parts of this graph is the median income of the Asian householders. Despite being only 4% of the population (fig. 1), the Asian segment of the neighborhood has a median income that hovers around 60% higher than the median income of the Hispanic community, which is 32% of the Williamsburg population (fig. 1), and it is nearly equal to the median income of the White community, which makes up 35% of the population (fig. 1). The income disparities in Williamsburg are one of the more unpleasant facets of the gentrification of the neighborhood.
Figure 3: Age (InfoShare)
The above chart (fig. 3), which groups the residents of Williamsburg by age bracket, is actually somewhat deceptive. In the visual, the Under 21 age grouping is by far the largest in Williamsburg. It must, though, be remembered that the Under 21 age group covers a span of ages more than twice as large as the 21-29 age group and significantly larger than the 30-44 bracket. The reality is that the largest age bracket by population size, if we break them down into smaller groups, is the 25-29 group, which is 13% of the Williamsburg population. A similarly sized bracket within the Under 21 group, the 5-9 bracket, is only 8% of the total population. Nevertheless, possibly the most telling piece of information to be extracted from this chart is the relative youth of the Williamsburg community. Over 75% of the residents of Williamsburg are under 45 years of age, leaving less than 25% of the population in the 45+ bracket (InfoShare). Persons 45+, however, represent nearly 40% of the national population (The Demographics of Aging). Williamsburg, then, is an exceptionally young community.
Figure 4: Workers per Household (InfoShare)
Figure 5: Number of Residents per Household (InfoShare)
Finally, we have two charts here (fig. 4 and fig. 5) to lend an insight into what the homes in Williamsburg look like. Most households, as can be seen (fig. 4), have only one worker. What is unclear from the data is whether these single-worker households are households inhabited by only a single individual or by families. If they do refer to families, it may be an indication that the workers are fairly affluent, thereby obviating the need for additional workers in the household. However, if these households are single individuals, the data is less conclusive. When this chart is viewed side-by-side with the chart showing household size (fig. 5), we can begin to draw some new conclusions regarding the implications of the number of workers in a given household. What we see is that while 45% of households have one worker, only 25% of households consist of single individuals (InfoShare). The 20% deficit, then, must be the portion of households where two or more people live on the working salary of one of their members.
Using these statistics to gain a general picture of Williamsburg, we can now begin to examine the specific individuals and groups living in the neighborhood.
