migration patterns in NY area

[freepcrusher]

does anyone notice that the more liberal population in the NY metro area tended to migrate northwards while the more conservative population (really less liberal population) tended to migrate eastwards?

Is there a historical reason for this? There's even sort of an accent difference between the two of them. The Manhattan/Bronx/Westchester accent seems whinier than the Brooklyn to Suffolk accent.

[King of Kensington]

Westchester, Fairfield and the New Jersey suburbs also have a lot more transplants, while Long Island is more insular "New Yawk."

[freepcrusher]

Westchester, Fairfield and the New Jersey suburbs also have a lot more transplants, while Long Island is more insular "New Yawk."

I watched a dateline episode where a college age girl got robbed by an otherwise friend, murdered and then thrown off a bridge. The case was in Neptune, NJ which is in monmouth county. The area seemed more insular than a Saddle River or Maplewood. The aerial footage of the area sort of gives it a "small town but more densely populated" feel to it. The friends of the murderer/murdered didn't have an accent - but there parents definitely did.

[King of Kensington]

Example of a "Manhattan/Bronx/Westchester" accent?  Pretty sure ethnicity plays a bigger role in terms of NY accent - i.e. Jewish vs Italian as opposed to Bronx vs. Brooklyn. 

[freepcrusher]

Example of a "Manhattan/Bronx/Westchester" accent?  

Eliot Engel. His accent is/was not the same type of accent as the "pooly/pully" pronunciation of pauly (which i associate more with queens).

[King of Kensington]

Jewish % is similar in both but Nassau Jews likely quite a bit more conservative than Westchester Jews.  Orthodox Five Towns precincts voted to the right of West Virginia!  Great Neck also leans more traditional and has a large Persian Jewish population.

[King of Kensington]

Westchester was built up earlier than Long Island, mostly pre-WWII.  LI is mostly postwar "white flight" era suburbia. 

Population increase, 1940-1970:

Westchester  +56%
Nassau  +250%
Suffolk  +471%

[King of Kensington]

Population, 1940

Yonkers  152,798
Mount Vernon 67,362
New Rochelle  58,408
White Plains  40,327
Southern Westchester (remainder)  148,809
Northern Westchester  101,810

Population, 1970

Yonkers  204,297
Mount Vernon  72,778
New Rochelle  75,385
White Plains  50,346
Southern Westchester (remainder)  266,032
Northern Westchester  224,061

Change, 1940-1970

Yonkers  +34%
Mount Vernon  +8%
New Rochelle  +29%
White Plains  +25%
Southern Westchester (remainder)  +79%
Northern Westchester  +120%


More than half of Westchester's population was in the cities in 1940, and it remained at 45% in 1970.  Southern Westchester grew significantly but was largely already in place by 1940.  So it didn't really develop as a postwar suburb.  It was a mix of satellite cities and wealthy towns prior to WWII.

[King of Kensington]

Notice the eastward bias of growth in the postwar years.  There were probably as many whites moving to Queens as to Westchester then as it had a lot of "suburb in the city" parts.  And Queens I suspect served as a sort of "transition" to Nassau and Suffolk.

[freepcrusher]

Population, 1940

Yonkers  152,798
Mount Vernon 67,362
New Rochelle  58,408
White Plains  40,327
Southern Westchester (remainder)  148,809
Northern Westchester  101,810

Population, 1970

Yonkers  204,297
Mount Vernon  72,778
New Rochelle  75,385
White Plains  50,346
Southern Westchester (remainder)  266,032
Northern Westchester  224,061

Change, 1940-1970

Yonkers  +34%
Mount Vernon  +8%
New Rochelle  +29%
White Plains  +25%
Southern Westchester (remainder)  +79%
Northern Westchester  +120%


More than half of Westchester's population was in the cities in 1940, and it remained at 45% in 1970.  Southern Westchester grew significantly but was largely already in place by 1940.  So it didn't really develop as a postwar suburb.  It was a mix of satellite cities and wealthy towns prior to WWII.

this is some interesting stuff you got there. Aren't parts of Nassau similar to Westchester as far as being densely populated and a lot of interwar housing stock? I'm thinking of Rice's district in particular.