Tech-trification: Analyzing Secondary Demographic Effects of Tech Occupations on Urban Gentrification and Displacement

Author
Contributor
Abstract

Stemming from the large wealth inequality in the US, gentrification arises as an issue for many US cities due to the increasing prices and displacement of locals. A contributor to gentrification and displacement is the tech industry which has become vastly relevant in the previous years with multiple tech booms. This thesis looks into secondary demographic gentrification effects the tech industry might have in cities. The US Census American Community Survey (ACS) 1 year data is used; with computer and mathematical occupations as a measure for tech presence and gender and racial demographic changes throughout time as a measure for displacement. Other urban features that could drive gentrification (eg. income) are used as controlling variables to isolate tech employment itself. After running simple, logistic, and multi regressions, there are no estimated significant secondary effects from the tech industry for any of the demographics measured found. Findings do indicate that a city with more tech employment is less likely to see changes in single race demographics. Past discoveries, these findings, and other future research on the tech industry, gentrification, and displacement are significant to informing decisions, especially with the increasing use of tech and expanding tech industry.

Advisor
Shane Jensen
Date of degree
2023-01-01
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
Recommended citation