The cities used to be the first choice of immigrants freshly arrived on the shores of the United States. It wasn’t even a question; arrive in the U.S., head to a big city, and start your new life. But according to new data, there has been a recent shift of immigrants and minorities moving out of the city and settling in in the suburbs.
According to a report from The Brookings Institution that was released in 2001, more than half of the country’s immigrants lived in the suburbs of the cities largest metros in 2000. But as Newgeography.com reports, according to census data stretching from 2000 to 2013, that number has grown to 61 percent.
Suburbs used to be pockets of uniformity, but that is no longer the case. Now, just as much as cities, suburbs have hybrid identities. Coming along with these hybrid identities, are challenges and complexities that didn’t exist before. Public schools, for instance, are seeing diversifying student populations outpacing the cultural training of teachers.
And while the general trend seems to be more and more immigrants and minorities moving to the suburbs, there are still many who are bucking the trend and opting for the fast-paced lifestyle cities have to offer.
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