URAP  >  The Pub - Pittsburgh Urban Blog

October 26, 2011

Pittsburgh Migration in the News

Posted on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 01:47 pm ET

The Pittsburgh Tribune review today has an article on recent return migrants residing on the City of Pittsburgh's South Side. See: Pittsburgh is great place for former residents' happy returns, by Sam Spatter, October 26, 2011. Similarly there has been media coverage of an initiative locally to encourage older migrants to come to Pittsburgh. See: Region wants "Experienced Dreamer' from away, Pittsburgh Business Times, October 20, 2011.

Patterns of migration within the region can be studied using data available from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey program. Below are maps UCSUR has compiled of patterns of recent migration across Allegheny County.

The three maps show the patterns of recent migrants (defined here as those who lived outside of Allegheny County one year earlier) as a proportion of residential population. The first image is for the total popualtion including all age groups. The 2nd shows the same data limited to the population age 25 and older, while the 3rd image shows the results for the population age 50 and older. Note the range of data varies significantly across the 3 age groups, and so the legend and colors are different for each map.

PDF versions of the maps below are available via the following links: Total Population, Age 25 and older, Age 50 and older.

The patterns clearly show the impact of the annual flows of new students matriculating at local institutions. The highest proportion of new migrants is unsuprisingly made up of the tract including freshman dorms for the University of Pittsburgh. Older age groups show different patterns with the oldest group having the most diffuse pattern of migration within the county.

October 05, 2011

Bike/Ped Commuting by Neighborhood

Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2011 at 09:35 am ET

Last week there was news about the increase in commuting by bicycle in the the City of Pittsburgh based on the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS). Commuting data available in the ACS refers to the mode of transportation for those who are employed. Thus the data reflects only those who ride to work by bicycle as their primary means of commuting and does not reflect overall bike ridership.

The ACS 5-year Estimates (2005-2009) put out late last year included data by census tract on bicycle commuting. This data can be recompiled by City of Pittsburgh Neighborhood. Small area estimates from the ACS can be severely impacted by small sample size resulting in wide sample errors. For this reason UCSUR did not include bicycle specific commuting in our report on City of Pittsburgh neighborhood profiles based on the ACS data.

Using the same data from the 2005-2009 ACS, UCSUR has compiled the bicycle specific commuting data by census tract and City of Pittsburgh neighborhood. Keep in mind there can be wide sample errors associated with this data. Below are just the top city neighborhoods ranked by either the number or proportion of bicycle commuters, along with similar rankings for commuters who walk to work. At the bottom are some city wide maps of the patterns by census tract.

October 04, 2011

September PEQ is out

Posted on Tuesday, October 04, 2011 at 12:08 pm ET

UCSUR's September Pittsburgh Economic Quarterly (PEQ) is now online.

In addition to the story on the changing demograophics of the City of Pittsburgh, topics in this edition include:

October 03, 2011

Pittsburgh Town -- Pittsburgh (was) a smoky ol' town, Pittsburgh

Posted on Monday, October 03, 2011 at 12:42 pm ET

The September Pittsburgh Economic Quarterly (PEQ) will focus on emerging population changes impacting the City of Pittsburgh. The 2010 decennial Census shows two significant shifts from previous trends -- the young adult population is growing in the city of Pittsburgh and the number of Pittsburgh residents aged 65 and over decreased between 2000 and 2010.

The graph below shows the proportion of the Pittsburgh population aged 65 and over compared to Allegheny County and the U.S. If similar trends continued since April 2010, the City of Pittsburgh today has a similar proportion of elderly as does the nation. Coupled with the growth of young adults in Pittsburgh between 2000 and 2010 and the decline in steel decades ago, can we now change the great Woody Guthrie's first line from Pittsburgh Town to Pittsburgh (was) a smoky ol' town ?

The September PEQ will show detailed neighborhood population changes in the decade, out soon!

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