Katy Golvala
Need more proof that gentrification is alive and well in Bushwick? Today, almost a quarter of the neighborhood’s residents are millennials.
A few weeks ago, Rentcafe.com, an apartment search website, published a report capturing the top trending millennial zip codes in the U.S. That got us wondering: Are millennials taking over Bushwick?
Data from the American Community Survey (ACS) suggests that, like in other rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods all across the country, millennials are becoming an increasingly larger share of the population in Bushwick.
As of 2016, around 23 percent of Bushwick residents were between the ages of 25 and 34, up from 18 percent in 2008. That accounts for the third-highest rate of millennials in all of Brooklyn. Unsurprisingly, the only two community districts with a higher percentage of millennials – Greenpoint / Williamsburg and Brooklyn Heights / Fort Greene – are areas where gentrification has also run rampant.
But, looking at the ages of Bushwick residents actually reveals an even weirder pattern: The neighborhood has an unusually low number of senior residents.
In 2016, only 9 percent of residents were above the age of 65, which was the third lowest rate of any neighborhood in the city, according to data presented by the NYU Furman Center. And, unlike the millennial takeover, this isn’t a particularly new trend. In 2000, only 7 percent of residents were over the age of 65.
So that’s your fast fact of the week, Bushwick! Have a question about the neighborhood that you want us to try and answer using data? Leave a comment below!
Cover image courtesy of Kevin Grieve