ABSTRACT

For many of the nation's big cities, the preliminary 1990 census figures tell a depressing story: greater than expected population losses that will result in a weakened political base and, for those who remain behind, increasingly grim and isolated social conditions. Big American cities during the 1980s were becoming less prosperous: per capita incomes were dropping. In the 40 cities by the year 2000, the per capita income of non-Hispanic whites was, on average, 5 percent higher than that of their metropolitan areas as a whole. Any percentage greater than 100 means that per capita income was higher in the principal city than in its metropolitan area. Since 2000, central cities have done even better. By 2008, central cities were not just stabilizing when it came to per capita income. By 2008, the per capita income of non-Hispanic whites was 9 percent higher than their metropolitan areas.