Where Do They Go? The Destinations of Residents Moving from Gentrifying Neighborhoods

Abstract

The fate of residents living in gentrifying neighborhoods remains an important yet little understood outcome of the gentrification process. In this study, we assess the effects of gentrification on mobility patterns using the geocoded version of the panel study of income dynamics (PSID), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of households. While many studies examine whether residents move from gentrifying neighborhoods, few study their destinations. We utilize PSID data from 2001 to 2017 to identify each respondent's census tract and characteristics of the tract to which they moved. We find little difference in the socioeconomic status or access to the urban core of the destination neighborhoods of residents originating in gentrifying neighborhoods compared to the destination neighborhoods of residents originating in nongentrifying neighborhoods. Our findings inform debates on whether residents of gentrifying neighborhoods are pushed out of central cities and into worse neighborhoods than residents of other low-income neighborhoods.