Every now and then the Census Bureau or some organization releases a report or new data showing that DC’s demographics changed. A recent analysis of census data found that the 20001 zip code, which covers LeDroit Park, Pleasant Plains, Bloomingdale, Truxton Circle, Shaw, and Mount Vernon Square, saw its non-Hispanic white population increase by 27.2 percentage points from 5.6% to 32.8%. In fact, 20001 made the list of “most-whitened zip codes” in the nation.

Our review of the 2010 census data found that LeDroit Park is 21% white, which is below the figure for the zip code.

What does this mean? Without more information, the report doesn’t mean much other than the unsurprising fact that neighborhood demographics change. This plain answer will dissatisfy some.  In a city in which identity is inevitably intertwined with politics, many will feel compelled to read too much into the data for some larger narrative that confirms preexisting social or political views.

However, the reasons that people move into and out of a neighborhood are complicated and there are both push and pull factors, both voluntary and involuntary.

Why a person might leave a neighborhood:

• Your new spouse wants to live elsewhere.
• You graduated from the local university and intend to return to your hometown.
• You dislike too many of your neighbors.
• You got a new job far away.
• The rent has become unaffordable.
• You lost your job and can’t pay any rent.
• You want to retire closer to where your children live.
• Perceptions of crime.
• Divorce.
• Death.
• You want to send your children to school elsewhere.
• You’re pursuing a degree somewhere else.

Why a person might move into a neighborhood:

• You are born and that’s where your parents live.
• You found the perfect home.
• Friends and family are nearby.
• There are people like you nearby.
• You got a new job nearby.
• The area is familiar.
• You’re moving in with friends or relatives.
• Rent is cheaper here than in some other place.
• The neighborhood is visually appealing.

Each person’s story is different, but there is far more at work than the simplistic displacement narrative that gets so much press.

We learned that many years ago the LeDroit Park Civic Association meetings used to get heated.  How times have changed; every meeting we’ve attended this year was calm and polite.

This contrasts with some neighboring Shaw and Mount Vernon civic associations, which, as the blog The Other 35 Percent reports, have involved member blacklists, police-escorted ejections, membership schisms, and restraining orders.  Sounds like the plot of a novel!