Suburbs and the Census: Tracking Change in the Suburbs

of 35 Largest Metropolitan Areas  1990 to 2000

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	By William H. Lucy and David L. Phillips with Steve Golden,  Jeff Driscoll and Lara Mathes  Urban and Environmental Planning ,  School of Architecture , University of Virginia   for  Brookings Institution Center for Urban and Metropolitan Policy

Population Change
More than 700 of 2586 suburbs were found to have declined in population between 1990 and 2000.
Maps for eight metropolitan areas and paths to the report and appendices can be found at:
Population Change in the Suburbs of 35 Largest Metropolitan Areas 1990 to 2000
 
Income Change
Per Capita and Median Family Income for 2586 suburbs as reported in the 1990 and 2000 Censuses are compared with Metropolitan Income to identify suburbs exceeding or falling behind metropolitan income growth.

While some suburbs had substantial increases in income, there were suburbs throughout the 35 metropolitan areas which  declined in income relative to their metropolitan incomelevels.  Some of these declines were substantial.  Suburban decline was present regardless of the region, the rate of growth of the metropolitan area, the size of suburban place and conversely increases were clearly predictable only in suburbs that had substantial population and housing growth during the decade.

Maps, figures and appendices for these income measures can be found at:
Income Change in the Suburbs of 35 Largest Metropolitan Areas 1990 to 2000
The report itself is still under review.