Washington D.C. has the worst gentrification problem in America, with 40 percent of its low-income neighborhoods affected by an influx of wealthier residents, rising home prices and shifting demographics, according to a new study.
As wealthy white people moved into these D.C. neighborhoods, 20,000 African American residents were displaced - more than any other city in the nation, according to the report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
Researchers defined the problem in D.C. and other U.S. cities as 'intensive gentrification,' or when more than 10 Census tracts within a city underwent gentrification from 2000-2013. Gentrification occurred in 62 of D.C.'s low-income Census tracts during that period. Census tracts are small geographic regions that typically encompass a population of 2,500-8,000 people.
While D.C. was the most gentrified by the percentage of neighborhoods affected, New York City was the most gentrified by 'sheer volume,' with 24 percent of its low-income neighborhoods experiencing the phenomenon and nearly 15,000 African Americans displaced, according to the report.
Nationwide, gentrification has been concentrated in larger cities, particularly as more wealthy people have returned from the suburbs. The pattern often forces many low-income Americans - particularly minorities - to move to further-flung suburbs or neighborhoods where the cost of housing is lower.
This map illustrates the U.S. cities where gentrification is most prevalent, with a concentration in areas on the East and West coasts. Washington D.C. had the highest 'intensity' of gentrification, while New York city had the most by 'sheer numbers'
In fact, nearly half of all gentrification has occurred in seven U.S. cities, predominately along the nation's coasts. In addition to D.C. and New York those include: Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Diego and Chicago.
'The gentrification and displacement that we found is really concentrated in a few of the most economically active cities,' said Jason Richardson, co-author of the report and director of research at NCRC.
'It displaced mostly African American and Latinos because they had been drawn into living in those neighborhoods during the 1950s, 1960s (and) 1970s era, and now there's a process of them being pushed out,' he told DailyMail.com.
Washington D.C. stood out again – along with Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon – for having high rates of African American displacement.
Portland saw 13 percent of its black community displaced from 2000-2013, and Philadelphia saw 12,000 African Americans displaced during the same period.
The issue has also affected Hispanic people, with the greatest displacement of those communities occurring in
