RENTCafé has analyzed over 11,000 ZIP codes across the nation to find the neighborhoods that underwent the most extreme gentrification between 2000 and 2016. The online ILS firm measured gentrification based on changes in median home values, median household income, and the share of the population that holds a bachelor’s degree or higher between the 2000 U.S. Census and the Census Bureau's 2016 American Community Survey.
To obtain the final results, RENTCafé analysts averaged together the rankings each ZIP code received in each subcategory. This measure marks Downtown Los Angeles’ 90014 ZIP code as the single fastest-gentrifying ZIP code in the nation. The ZIP code has experienced a staggering 707% increase in home values, a 95% increase in household income, and an 857% increase in the share of bachelor’s degree holders since 2000.
Washington, D.C.’s, 20001 ZIP code is second on the list and ranks first for the highest income increase between 2000 and 2016 among the most gentrified ZIP codes in the country. The median household income in the nation's capital has risen from $37,000 to almost $97,000 in this period, up 163% over 16 years. Houston’s 77003 ZIP code came in third.
All of the top 20 most gentrified ZIP codes are located in urban cores, and 12 of them are on the East Coast. Five of the ZIP codes are located in Brooklyn, while Manhattan, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., are each represented twice. Baltimore is represented once. St. Louis is the only Midwestern market in the top 20.
The average home value was $446,730 across all top 20 ZIP codes, an average increase of no less than 224% since 2000. At the same time, the number of households increased in 19 of the top 20 ZIP codes, with the exception of Baltimore’s 21224, where the number of households fell by 2.26%.
New York City’s 10044 (Roosevelt Island) ZIP code experienced the highest jump in median home values, moving from $32,900 in 2000 to $655,875 in 2016, an expansion rate of 1,894%. Home values have more than tripled in each of the top 10 ZIP codes for home value growth between 2000 and 2016.
The share of the population that holds a bachelor’s degree or higher has risen by at least 80% in all of the top 20 most gentrified ZIP codes and has more than doubled in 16 of the 20. Downtown Los Angeles, once again, tops this list, with an 857% increase in bachelor's degree holders. Lithia, Fla.'s, 33547 ZIP code, which didn't make the top 20 for gentrification overall, has the second-highest increase in the nation in share of bachelor's degree holders, at 449.9%.
Despite the 95% rise in median income in Downtown L.A.’s 90014 ZIP code, RENTCafé notes that a majority of its residents still live under the poverty line at a median income of $24,670. The same is true for the neighboring 90013 ZIP code, the 12th most gentrified in the nation, where the median income is $23,078.
