Deprivation, Crime, and Abandonment: Do Other Midwestern Cities Have 'Little Detroits'?

TL;DR

This study compares economic decline, crime, and abandonment in Detroit with similar neighborhoods in five Midwestern cities, revealing that only a small percentage of neighborhoods elsewhere resemble Detroit's most affected areas.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of neighborhoods across Midwestern cities, highlighting the importance of targeted development based on neighborhood characteristics.

Findings

Only 3% of Chicago and Milwaukee neighborhoods exceed Detroit's median crime and poverty levels.

11% of St. Louis neighborhoods are similar to Detroit's worst areas.

Minneapolis has only one neighborhood comparable to Detroit's decline.

Abstract

Both within the United States and worldwide, the city of Detroit has become synonymous with economic decline, depopulation, and crime. Is Detroit's situation unique, or can similar neighborhoods be found elsewhere? This study examines Census block group data, as well as local crime statistics for 2014, for a set of five Midwestern cities. Roughly three percent of Chicago's and Milwaukee's block groups--all of which are in majority nonwhite areas--exceed Detroit's median values for certain crimes, vacancies, and a poverty measure. This figure rises to 11 percent for St. Louis, while Minneapolis has only a single "Detroit-like" block group. Detroit's selected areas are more likely to be similar to the entire city itself, both spatially and statistically, while these types of neighborhoods for highly concentrated "pockets" of poverty elsewhere. Development programs that are targeted in one city, therefore, must take these differences into account and should be targeted to appropriate neighborhoods.