Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

White Flight And Urban Decay In Suburban Chicago, Lindsey Haines

Honors Projects

White flight and urban decay are issues typically analyzed in the context of the inner-city. This study builds on previous literature to test whether these phenomena have affected the Chicago suburbs in the same way as other urban areas. In particular, this study focuses on the effects of changes in racial composition, household income, and the age of the housing stock on changes in home values, the vacancy rate, the homeownership rate, unemployment, the single parent household rate, and the college completion rate. Overall the study supports the theories of white flight and filtering in the suburban Chicago context. The …