Our Changing Population: South Utica - 1980 versus 2010

As part of a continuing look at our changing neighborhoods, we now look at South Utica. More or less South Utica is everything in the city south of the Parkway. Using Census 2000 tract designations, it would include the following areas:

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Below is an infographic that compares the age, sex, race, nativity, employment, education, income and poverty levels for the South Utica neighborhood, for both 1980 and 2010.

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Our Changing Population: North Utica - 1980 versus 2010

As part of a continuing look at our changing neighborhoods, I've turned the focus to North Utica. More or less North Utica is everything in the city north of the NY Penn train tracks. Below is an infographic that compares the age, sex, race, nativity, employment, education, income and poverty levels of those who have found the North Utica neighborhood to be their home, in 1980 and in 2010.

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Our Changing Population: West Utica - 1980 Versus 2010

Recently I did data comparisons for 1980 versus 2010 for Utica's Center City neighborhood, as well as the Cornhill section of Utica. Both areas lent themselves to a relatively easy comparison given the stability of the census tracts used to define them over the years. West Utica, which this post is about, is a bit more difficult to look at with the present geography, but still lends itself to a pretty good match.

The outline on the 1980 census map below provides you with a better idea of where the West Utica neighborhood basically is. It largely lies south of the NY Penn railroad, is bordered on the west by the city line which encompasses Utica College, its south edge is defined by Burrstone Road and finally to the east it is bordered by Genesee St. until it snakes its way back toward the Arterial around Cornelia St. heading west then north along routes 5, 8 and 12.

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This area has gone from about 40% owner occupied housing in 1980 to only around 30% as of 2010. More than half of the housing (52%) are renter occupied units which is virtually identical to what existed 30 years ago when 51% were renter occupied. The biggest difference is really in the number of vacant structures - in 1980 roughly 6% of the housing was vacant; now 9% remains unoccupied.

Below is an infographic that compares the age, sex, race, nativity, employment, education, income and poverty levels of those who have found the West Utica neighborhood to be their home, in 1980 and in 2010. There are substantial changes in who lives there now as opposed to 30 years ago. Click to enlarge the graphic for easier viewing !

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Our Changing Population: Utica's Cornhill - 1980 Versus 2010

Recently I did a comparative of Utica's Center City neighborhhood, 1980 versus 2010. The area lent itself to a relatively easy comparison given the stability of the census tracts used to define it over the years. Utica's Cornhill neighborhood is similar in that the tracts that largely comprise it are similar now to what they were back 30 years ago. It's not perfect, but certainly it's close enough to make some general observations about the nature of any changes that have occurred over that time period in Cornhill.

So where is Cornhill in Utica? The tract map below shows you the outline (in red) of this neighborhood, with the Parkway serving as its southern border, Genesee Street to the west, South Street to the north, and the eastern boundary running mainly along St. Vincent and Mohawk Streets.

This area is more than 50% apartments, with the remainder of housing being split roughly with 20% abandoned properties and 30% owner occupied homes. Between 1980 and 2010, the area saw a substantial drop in population - it lost about 30% of its population. It dropped from more than 16,500 to around 11,700. These people were part of about 4,100 households in 2010, as compared to in 1980 when the 16,500 residents were spread across about 6,600 households.

Below is an infographic that compares the age, sex, race, nativity, employment, education, income and poverty levels of those who have found Utica's Cornhill neighborhood to be their home, in 1980 and in 2010. There are substantial changes in who lives there now as opposed to 30 years ago. Click to enlarge the graphic for easier viewing !

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Our Changing Population: Center City Utica - 1980 Versus 2010

Utica's Center City is an area that lends itself fairly easily to some simple neighborhood data comparisons. In terms of census geography it has stayed relatively stable, at one time comprising mostly two tracts - Census Tracts 203 and 204. In the Census 2000, these two tracts were combined and renamed as Tract 203. I wanted to take a look at how this high poverty area in the center of downtown Utica has changed in the last 30 years. To do this I took a look at some of the archived 1980 Census data and the 2012 American Communities Survey 5 Year Estimates.

Center City Utica, as I noted before, has remained relatively unchanged in terms of its geographical definition for at least the last 50 years. Below is a simple map showing the area, outlined in red. with a few familiar roads labeled. Genesee Street basically bisects the neighborhood from northeast to southwest.

This area is a heavy mix of businesses and apartments, along with a small number of owner occupied homes as well. Between 1980 and 2010, the area saw a substantial drop in population - it lost about 40% of its population dropping from more than 1,800 to around 1,100. These people were part of about 600 households in 2010, as compared to in 1980 when the 1,800 residents were spread across about 1,000 households.

Most of the residents live in apartments now, as they did in 1980. In both censuses, about 90% of residents were apartment dwellers.

Below is an infographic that compares the age, sex, race, nativity, employment, education, income and poverty levels of those who have found Center City Utica to be their home, in 1980 and in 2010. There are substantial changes in who lives there now as opposed to 30 years ago. Click to enlarge the graphic for easier viewing !

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It's A Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood !

Welcome to the Neighborhood !

Defining neighborhoods, in census terms, is not an easy prospect. Neighborhoods, well often well defined, do change over time as in and out migration, as well as the aging of populations, occurs. However, for the most part they generally remain in place for fairly lengthy periods.

One of the sets of data we get requests for in particular is for “neighborhoods” in the City of Utica. Such requests pose problems on several levels. The first is a matter of definition – what exactly ARE the neighborhoods of Utica ? And secondly, there is of course the issue of does any data exist for these specific areas being looked at?

Since 1980 data has been developed for what are seven distinct sections of the city. While there can be much debate about the boundaries of each area, they are historical “neighborhoods” from the standpoint of the availability of census data if nothing else. These seven can be seen on the map below, and include: East Utica, West Utica, North Utica, South Utica, Southeast Utica, Center City Utica, and Cornhill.

Neighborhood data exists then since about 1980 through the 2000 Census for Utica. Currently there is no such data put together for the 2010 Census, but efforts are underway to get at similar data for these areas of the city.

In the meantime, here is a basic three page demographic profile for the seven neighborhoods comprising Utica from the 2000 Census.