Is Ditmas Park Becoming A Playground For The Young?

Neighbor Michael pointed us towards an interactive map released by the University of Wisconsin last week plotting migration patterns of different age groups throughout different counties in the United States–and in Kings County, it turns out, only people ages 18-32 are moving in en masse instead of moving away.

While the map doesn’t specify the demographics of individual neighborhoods, it doesn’t seem far-fetched to consider Ditmas Park, both as a first choice and as a relatively-affordable alternative to areas in Northern Brooklyn many young adults seem so fond of, is beginning to catch a lot of people in the designated age group.

Unlike many neighborhoods in the borough closer to Manhattan, Flatbush’s residential property values have actually dropped slightly since 2008, and we’ve got some new bars, high-end cafes, and other businesses generally associated with young gentrifiers filling the Cortelyou, Church, and Newkirk business strips–so it seems like if an influx of younger people isn’t responsible for these businesses moving in, then said influx is already following, or will soon follow, the businesses here.

The City Journal article “The Childless City” we posted about over the summer seems to point to a similar place: between its affordability and its amenities, if you haven’t noticed a huge amount of new “young” people (anywhere in the just-out- of-high-school-to-starting-a-family-in-their-early-thirties swath) in Ditmas Park yet, you’re probably about to.

Have you seen a major shift in the neighborhood population over the past few years–or even more suddenly than that–or do things seem about the same as always? And where do you see the neighborhood, population- and “scene”-wise, five years from now?

Photo by natirabinowitz