See that chart? Egad. (Via here.) In early 2009, the difference between similar apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn was $1,800 per month. Now it’s around $210 per month. Just a quick reminder of how urban areas develop / certain spots become cool: as recently as the late 1990s/early 2000s, Greenpoint was primarily docks and run-down buildings. Now? Ahem:
Between the 2000 Census and the Census Bureau’s most recent update (with numbers collected from 2005 to 2009), the number of households in the borough with a combined income of at least $150,000 more than doubled, while Brooklyn’s overall population increased only slightly. The percentage of such households doubled too, from 3.29 percent of the total population to 7.17 percent.
Daaaaamn.
I’ve lived in Manhattan (grew up there) and in Queens (Astoria), but never Brooklyn. I definitely have logged some social hours there, though. Much gets made of the idea that mainstream media has “discovered” Brooklyn — in 2012, which is about 11-15 years too late — such as this article or, famously, this one. There’s definitely nothing to discover anymore; it’s here. ‘Tis arrived, and has been arrived for a while. Now I’m just hoping that Astoria — near and dear to my heart — doesn’t become “the new Brooklyn.”
