The Socio-Economic Status of Cities and Suburbs

Suburbs are commonly supposed to contain populations ranking higher in socio-economic status than the cities they surround. An analysis of the 1960 Census materials for 200 urbanized areas in the United States reveals that this is trite of the larger and older areas, but that smaller and newer cities tend to rank higher in income, education, and occupation than their suburbs. A multiple regression analysis indicates that age is the best predictor of citysuburban status differentials. The findings suggest that American cities have evolved in a predictable direction with respect to the residential distribution of broad social classes, in accordance with the Burgess model.