Has falling crime invited gentrification?

Ingrid Gould Ellen, Keren Mertens Horn and Davin Reed

Journal of Housing Economics, 2019, vol. 46, issue C

Abstract: Since the early 1990s, central city crime has fallen dramatically in the United States. We explore the extent to which this trend may have contributed to gentrification. Using confidential census microdata, we show that reductions in central city violent crime are associated with increases in the probability that high-income and college-educated households move into central city neighborhoods, including low-income neighborhoods, instead of the suburbs. We then use neighborhood-level crime and home purchase data for five major U.S. cities and find that falling neighborhood crime is associated with increasing numbers and shares of high-income movers choosing low-income central city neighborhoods.

Keywords: Crime; Gentrification; Neighborhood choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R11 R22 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhouse:v:46:y:2019:i:c:s1051137719300658

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhe.2019.101636

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