Demographics

Demographic Illusion: Majority, Minority, & The Expanding American Mainstream

October 19, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Some Americans believe that inevitable demographic changes will create a society with a majority made up of minorities for the first time in the United States’ history.

Richard Alba argues that this narrative obscures a more transformative development: the rising numbers of young Americans from ethno-racially mixed families, consisting of one white and one nonwhite parent. He believes young Americans with mixed parentage will play pivotal roles in the country’s demographic future. [Read more…] about Demographic Illusion: Majority, Minority, & The Expanding American Mainstream

Majority of NYS School Districts See Enrollment Declines 2010-2020

September 7, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

It’s back to school time in New York State. One of the things that always happens at this time is reports about school district enrollments year-over-year in a particular area. These stories are useful and interesting, but they usually lack context.

With the beginning of the release of 2020 US Census data in August, Protect the Adirondacks is starting an update of its study The Adirondack Park and Rural America: Economic and Population Trends 1970-2010. The 2020 US Census will enable us to look at a 50-year trend line. [Read more…] about Majority of NYS School Districts See Enrollment Declines 2010-2020

New 2020 Census Numbers: An Adirondacks, NY State Analysis

August 12, 2021 by Peter Bauer 6 Comments

The US Census released its first cut at its 2020 decennial count today. This data is limited, delivered for the purpose of redistricting for statewide and federal representation. Much more detailed data will be released to the public at the end of September with population data at the county, town and state level. In 2022, we’ll get more data on age and race as well as economic data.

The limited data tells us a few things that are important for the Adirondack Park and New York. [Read more…] about New 2020 Census Numbers: An Adirondacks, NY State Analysis

Adirondack Gentrification: No Country for Young Women (Final Installment)

August 6, 2021 by Eliza Jane Darling 10 Comments

Since environmental preservation has in part contributed to the gentrification of wilderness, it may seem logical to conclude that deregulation is the solution to the Adirondack housing crisis. It is not.

While the peculiar form such administration has taken in this part of the world leaves much to be desired, the accomplishment of the Adirondack green movement is still nothing short of remarkable: it has compelled the State to discipline capital’s monstrous appetite for profitable nature, and it has held the line even amidst the neoliberal feeding frenzy that has consumed much of the world in the last half-century. [Read more…] about Adirondack Gentrification: No Country for Young Women (Final Installment)

Adirondack Gentrification: Dispossession & Chronic Displacement (Part 2)

August 2, 2021 by Eliza Jane Darling 7 Comments

The shortage of children that closed the Raquette Lake School a decade ago was not due to a housing deficit. On the contrary, Raquette was chockablock with housing when the school failed, much of it sitting empty for most of the year.

While Raquette boasts some unusual features – some of its structures are accessible only by lake – it shares this same predicament with most other gentrifying Adirondack places, lake-locked or otherwise: plenty of lodging and nowhere to live.

How can any community with so many vacant dwellings suffer from a housing crisis? [Read more…] about Adirondack Gentrification: Dispossession & Chronic Displacement (Part 2)

Upcoming 1950 Census Release Will Offer New Details About Life In The U.S., Abroad

April 6, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The first U.S. federal population census was taken in 1790, and has been repeated every ten years since. The first censuses were often quite incomplete.

A complete list of all white people was not even a goal until the 1850 Census and ever since many have been missed in the count, especially women, the poor, those without homes, immigrants, people of color, slaves, free blacks, and indigenous people.

Still, decennial censuses can be enormously valuable reach tools – especially when it comes to genealogy and local history. [Read more…] about Upcoming 1950 Census Release Will Offer New Details About Life In The U.S., Abroad

Rural NYS Hit Hard By School Enrollment Declines

February 4, 2020 by Peter Bauer 1 Comment

Student enrollment in public schools is falling in every county in New York outside of New York City, except for one. School enrollments in 57 of New York’s 63 counties from Suffolk to Erie, Orange to Oswego, experienced declines in school enrollments in the last decade, from 2011 to 2019.

The only county outside of New York City to experience student enrollment growth was Saratoga County.

Peter Feinman: NYS Demographics and Local History

April 28, 2019 by Peter Feinman Leave a Comment

Local historical societies and museums, like local schools, local libraries, and, indeed, local communities, depend on there being a sufficient population to survive and thrive, but more New York State residents are retiring and leaving the state. What does this mean for local history? [Read more…] about Peter Feinman: NYS Demographics and Local History