Every two years, the City of Decatur works with the National Research Center to send out a Citizen Survey to over 1,000 randomly selected list of residents and asks them a number of questions. The survey asks residents for their opinions on everything from city services, to how safe residents feel, how often they use the DeKalb Library or how often ride a bus.
You get the the picture. It runs the gamut. That includes questions about your household.
And here’s one very apt question – considering the city’s school enrollment drama – that the city has asked since the survey’s inception in 2006 – “Do any children 17 or under live in your household?”
We’ve charted the percentage of households that answered “Yes” to that question each time the survey has been conducted above.
As you can see quite clearly, the slight over-index of the 17-and-under crowd in 2006 to the current national average has become a giant advantage in 2014, with a cool 41% of households in the City of Decatur answering “Yes” to that question.
It should be noted that the resident majority still favors the childless household – an important consideration for the School Board and City Commission if they decide to put an $82 million bond referendum for all city residents to vote on in November.
And before anyone brings up the accuracy of a the survey, the confidence level is “plus or minus five percentage points around any given percent reported for the entire sample.” So yes, technically, the child population could be flat from 2012 to 2014, but that’s pretty unlikely. The upward trend is certainly real, as well as the fact that Decatur far outperforms the national average when it comes to households with kids.
You can view all the detailed data from Decatur’s 2014 Citizen Survey HERE.
*2013 National average estimate taken from US Census
Is the huge growth in school age children unique to Decatur? To our north, Nashville’s public school system has also experienced huge enrollment growth. What was their approach in addressing the barriers that arose from this increase? What has Dr. Edwards learned from her colleagues in similar municipalities, facing similar issues? What were best practices? What approaches did not work? Is there a link where this information has already been aggregated such that Decatur residents can educate themselves and subsequently make informed decisions?
Something I found interesting in the survey is that, out of the specifically City of Decatur facilities, the Rec Center gets the most “don’t use at all” responses, 46% (compare that to the library, which isn’t Decatur’s, at 27%). Noteworthy considering how much money was spent there.
Of course, it’s also worth noting that an even higher percentage, 64%, indicated they don’t attend religious facilities at all, but of course the City has no control over how many churches there are here that don’t pay any property taxes.
At the risk of a thread hijack, I’m glad someone else is pointing this out. “Homes, Schools, and Churches” is a dated moniker that does not (to me) reflect what Decatur currently is. It sounded cute 15 years ago, and I like the simple logo. But today it is more like Schools, Books, and Beer.
“Schools, books, and beer.” I like it.
+1.
But Lego doesn’t have blocks that look like books or beer yet.
Wrong.
C’mon, lets do some basic probability and statistics. The population may favor the childless household, but may not necessarily favor the childless voter. A childless household may might be more likely to have one voter. A household with child(ren) is more likely to have two voters. Individuals vote, not houses.
Regardless, borrowing money is historically cheap, and(I think) everyone agrees that a strong school system is a good thing regardless of whether or not they have children 17 or under… or do we want to emulate the dysfunction that we have seen at APS or Unincorporated Dekalb?
“It should be noted that the resident majority still favors the childless household – an important consideration for the School Board and City Commission if they decide to put an $82 million bond referendum for all city residents to vote on in November.”
Reasonable points, and I’m guessing that parents in general also tend to be more likely to vote.
I’m not sure this conversation is probability or statistics, but I’d point out that the voting population is also generally older.
So the national average says that 77% of households are childless. 77%. That would suggest to me that there is considerable low hanging fruit in terms of potential taxpayers who skew net-positive, if we can just attract them.
Alas! From a livability standpoint, we’re well down that road. All we need now is more places for such people to live. So, again, can someone tell me why there’s such opposition to increased downtown apartments?
I think it’s just the fear of increased school enrollment…
If you’re talking about attracting childless folk, in general you’re talking about attracting millennials. My wife and I are early Gen Xers, but we have probably an above-average number of millennial friends and colleagues (maybe in part because we’re childless, but also because of work). Most of the childless ones live in the Midtown area, because it’s near where they work and that’s where the high rises are. The ones we’ve talked to about it like Decatur, like our bars and restaurants, but there isn’t housing for them here, and they don’t consider it convenient for work. The housing part of the equation is changing, but will it attract those who work in Midtown or Buckhead?
Also, I wouldn’t underestimate the draw that Piedmont Park represents. We simply don’t have that here.
And one more factor: When we we’re looking for a condo 8-9 years ago, we considered Midtown, but we felt a little old for the area . Does Decatur feel too old for some millenials?
The number of Boomers runs fairly comparable to the number of Millennials and both groups are, statistically speaking, showing a lot of overlap in terms of housing preference. What makes you so confident the latter is the key?
I assume you mean retired boomers. Yes, you make a good point. I know there is a fairly high percentage in the existing downtown condos (which is of course why we didn’t feel too old for Decatur compared to Midtown), but is there a demand for rentals (which is the majority of the new multi-family coming on line) among boomers? I don’t know the answer on that one.
And this is a reply to Scott in case I forgot to use the reply link again 🙂
Buckhead is a nightmare to get to from Decatur, so I don’t think Buckhead communters ever have been or will be a sweet spot for Decatur. (I know DEM bikes uphill to Buckhead everyday from Avondale, but consider him the wonderful exception.)
We don’t know yet how exactly Decatur’s make up will change with all the apartments, but I think you’re likely to see millennials from Emory or downtown Atlanta, more so than Midtown.
Atlanta now also has the Beltline and Ponce City Market, which is a big draw for that crowd.
Midtown. And used to, but not recently.
Ha, can I claim artistic license?
Don’t worry. There are several of us Decatur-ites who bike uphill both ways to midtown nearly every day 🙂
Depending on your route, it really is uphill both ways! Or at least there is no shortage of climbs in either direction, if you want to take them on.
Ya’ll are brave souls taking on those kinds of bike commutes in this city. I don’t feel safe sharing the road with the idiot drivers even when protected by thousands of pounds of car, seatbelts, and airbags. But I promise to keep my eye out for you and other bikers. That’s about the most in the way of solidarity I can offer.
It’s really not that bad. You just have to be sensible and bike where the traffic is light. Route selection is paramount. Doesn’t mean you are 100% safe, but driving isn’t 100% safe, either.
Seconding DEM’s comment. I bike to work downtown most days, and around town generally a fair amount. For most destinations, it’s possible to find a non-hair-raising route that mostly avoids trafficy, ugly roads like Ponce de Leon or Dekalb/Decatur.
My husband and I are childless (and not going to have children), in our early 50s, solidly middle class and looking for a house for around $500K in Decatur. So we are potential property tax payers not using the school system. The housing prices have gone up so much in the last few years due to demand by families and now with the potential of higher property taxes, we have decided to look elsewhere. It’s starting to seem like the only people moving to Decatur now have children, and so the culture is also skewing that way. I love kids and I believe in a strong school system, but the scales have finally tipped for us to look elsewhere in town, like East Lake or Kirkwood.
“It’s starting to seem like the only people moving to Decatur now have children, and so the culture is also skewing that way.”
Which poses the question: Do childless people in general, boomers or millennials, want to live where there are a lot of kids?
I don’t think that question has an “in general” answer.
I’ll say this (and my wife agrees): if we were looking for a place now, we’d be looking a lot closer at Midtown than we did 8 years ago. We’d still feel old for the area, but we’ve found that we have more in common with younger childless people than with parents our age.
Agreed. In response to DM and brianc, we are young empty nesters (early 40s) and we are moving near Ponce City Market/Beltline to shorten our commutes and to be closer to shows/events we enjoy. We love Decatur and it has been a great place for our family, but without a need for awesome schools, our top priority became spending less time in the car both going to work (Marta was not an option) and going out at night (our social life tends to be mainly with childless friends all over Atlanta instead of our dear Decatur friends, who almost all have young children and tend to go out less often).
Agree with Sharron that it depends. I can still remember being single and owning a single family residence in Decatur. On the one hand, single folks like to be near things to do–restaurants, libraries, athletic facilities, etc. On the other hand, neighborhoods filled with children in the yards, sidewalks, and streets feel safer than retail and condo/apt. neighborhoods. And on the third hand, if I had one, lots of elderly people in the neighborhood can feel real safe because they watch out the windows and call you at work if anyone comes to your door, including the termite service.
I can’t imagine there are many childless people who plan on staying that way buying single-family here now. As Izzy pointed out, the prices and taxes have skyrocketed mostly because of the schools.
I’m generally ok if you keep them leashed and do not ever sit at the bar with them (that drives me crazy)…
“Do childless people in general, boomers or millennials, want to live where there are a lot of kids?” — Absence of children in a household rarely indicates a dislike of children. I know lots of childless boomers, Xers and millenials who as a general rule genuinely enjoy having kids around. It’s usually the parents that get on our last nerve! >;-o
Which brings up a question – Why is it wrong that Decatur is an attractive spot for families with school age children and not as attractive for others? A city cannot be all things to all people. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Thousands of people retire and move to Florida because of lower cost of living, climate etc. We live in Decatur b/c of schools, proximity to midtown and downtown for our work, and of course restaurants, walkability and all those other things are also nice. But down the road when the kids are out of the house and we are no longer working – we may choose to move to Athens, or Florida or maybe to a small condo in midtown. People at different life stages have different needs and often that leads to a move. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
I don’t think it’s a matter of right or wrong, but the likelihood that property taxes are going to be much higher as the population skews increasingly toward school age children.
Of course. And the trend will be for those without school age children to live elsewhere. Simple economics.
In that Decatur is a city, as opposed to being a neighborhood, going all in on a particular demographic may create a bubble within that demographic.
I think you are on to something: Decatur is a city, not a neighborhood. A city really may need demographic diversity whereas a neighborhood does not necessarily.
In terms of low hanging fruit, the Druid Hills CDP is 15% of households with children <18. At 15,000 population, a very rough estimate would be that annexation of Druid Hills would result in a frequency of children household of .29 which is not that much higher than the state and national average of .23. So annex Druid Hills already. You may only have until November to get it done.
But, we’re all in this together when the kids start to play “Invasion.”
http://youtu.be/rk6cggajucQ
This chart is partly a symptom of a wider social problem. Rather than investing across the state in better schools, we have a system where families with the means to do so move to higher tax districts while they have school-age children, then move out when their children are grown.
I think Decatur is quite unique because it’s in Dekalb, with generally bad schools, yet has its own school system (most cities do not). If some of the surrounding areas had better schools, things would be different. If you want a good school in Dekalb your#1 option is Decatur by a mile unless you are looking North.
Exactly. If Dekalb and Atlanta schools could improve then the problem would solve itself. Not casting judgement on them, just a fact.
This is what happens when you tie school funding to property values – those who can afford to flee the sinking ship will, leaving those who lack the means (or desire) to do so.
Nobody wants their kid to go to a crummy school, but some of us have more ability to leverage our way out of the bad ones rather than attempting to fix it.
I wish Dekalb schools would get their act together–for the sake of the students and the dedicated teachers who work in the system who are often not supported as they should be (and many leave when they can).
You are right that nobody wants their kids in crummy schools. I have met so many parents in Dekalb who cannot afford to leave their neighborhoods or are underwater on their homes and are dissatisfied with their child’s school. These are people who are nurses, mechanics, artists, office workers….
Dekalb schools have more challenges than CSD for sure, but they could learn a lot from Gwinnet County schools which face many of the same challenges.
“Dekalb schools have more challenges than CSD for sure, but they could learn a lot from Gwinnet County schools which face many of the same challenges.”
This might be a shocking statement coming from a “liberal” like me, but in my view the big problem for DeKalb is that it has an unofficial dual mandate. On the one hand the system is supposed to educate kids, but on the other hand, which is unstated but arguably more influential, it’s a jobs program. The reasons why it’s a jobs program are complicated and uncomfortable to discuss, but suffice it to say that problems are inevitable when one side of this dynamic trumps the other.
“The reasons why it’s a jobs program are complicated and uncomfortable to discuss”
Oh, I don’t think so — it’s simple influence peddling, isn’t it? Maybe less so under the current board and administration, but setting up your friends in cushy government jobs is a time-honored tradition in most jurisdictions.