How Gentrification Accelerated

The initial seeds of gentrification date back several decades in some communities. In fact, a British sociologist first coined the term “gentrification” in 1963.

Gentrification particularly accelerated, though, in recent years as growing numbers of Americans opted to pursue urban lifestyles. The gentrification rate, or share of eligible lower-income tracts experiencing gentrification, was 20 percent for the period following the 2000 Census, more than double the rate of the 1990s. Rates increased in 39 of the 50 cities reviewed.

Some cities experienced rapid gentrification after decades of little or no economic growth. In the District of Columbia, for example, 54 neighborhoods were found to have gentrified since 2000. Back in the 1990s, just five neighborhoods had gentrified in a decade when the city was dubbed the nation’s “murder capital.”

Other neighborhoods began their transition decades ago. In San Francisco, for instance, few tracts were eligible to gentrify…