Distress scores are calculated based on weighted factors. Those factors include the number of residents with a high school diploma, the poverty rate, the number of adults not working, the housing vacancy rate, the median income ratio, changes in employment, and changes in the number of business establishments.
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EIG discovered that in recent years, urban areas across the country have become increasingly “distressed” while the surrounding suburbs are considered more “prosperous.”
Nothing new with that, but covid produced some strong population shifts.
DB2
Let’s think back to 2020 and the massive urban demonstrations caused by the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter Movement. These reminded me of the race riots of 1969 since they included looting, arson and destruction of property.
The reaction after 2020 was similar to 1969 – people who could afford to move abandoned the city for the suburbs. I’m not sure whether some of the 1969 riot-hit areas ever recovered to their pre-riot economic status. So-called “ring cities” developed after 1969 as companies built offices in a ring in suburban areas around the abandoned cities.
It’s even easier now to abandon the crime and poverty ridden center cities since Zoom enables many to work from home.
Nobody should be surprised. This has happened before.
Wendy
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The problem with a report like this is that it doesn’t show changes over time.
Interesting and relevant tangent:
Detroit gained 1,852 people from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday, putting the city’s population at 633,218. It is the first time the city has gained population year over year since 1957, Duggan said.
…
Detroit saw the largest growth in terms of actual people of any city in Michigan, beating out East Lansing, which gained 1,266 people in the same time period.
All the data is available from the Census Department. Crunching it and constructing maps that show changes over time…that’s quite a project but I guess that’s what computers are for. 
Wendy
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How are the areas of the Twin Cities doing four years after the rioting there?
DB2