As Chicago showcases its rich cultural diversity in scores of summer neighborhood festivals, a team of researchers at DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development has released a study identifying the city’s 23 most diverse neighborhoods, according to ethnic origin, income level and age of populations.

Using recent U.S. census data, Joseph P. Schwieterman, professor of public service, and Lauren A. Fischer, a research associate at the Chaddick Institute and a graduate of DePaul’s master of science public service program, set out to determine the ways in which gentrification, population shifts and business and residential development impact the historical patterns of Chicago’s neighborhoods.

“We believe ours to be the first attempt to integrate several aspects of diversity into a single index,” said Fischer, who used a composite index in “A Kaleidoscope of Culture: Measuring the Diversity of Chicago’s Neighborhoods” to determine overall diversity. “We ranked each of the city’s neighborhoods on the basis of their compositive score and assessed how diversity is likely to evolve in years ahead.”

The following are highlights from the study:

General Diversity Highlights:

• According to the DePaul Diversity Composite Index, Uptown, Rogers Park, Hyde Park, Bridgeport and Albany Park are the most diverse Chicago neighborhoods.
• Despite rising diversity as a whole, Chicago’s racial segregation seems likely to persist.
• Public service agencies are placing greater emphasis on community development strategies that cultivate diverse constituencies.

Ethnic Diversity Highlights:

• The city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods are located on the North Side.
• Among the top five ethnically diverse neighborhoods, the largest group accounts for, on average, 48 percent of the population.  
• In all of the top five neighborhoods, at least three distinct ethnic groups each comprise 20 percent or more of the population.
• In six of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods, Asians account for at least 10 percent of the population.
• In Albany Park, residents have migrated from five continents, and schoolchildren speak 40 different languages.
• There is a strong correlation between a population’s ethnic composition and a neighborhood’s religious and cultural structure.

Income Diversity Highlights:

• Hyde Park ranks first in income diversity with 15.6 percent of households earning $100,000 or more; 37.8 percent at the middle-income level and 46.5 percent are low income. West Town ranks second.
• If present trends continue, the Near West Side and Bridgeport will surpass Hyde Park and West Town as the most income-diverse neighborhoods.
• The five most income-diverse neighborhoods in Chicago are within four miles of the Loop.
• In poorer neighborhoods, the early phases of gentrification increase diversity. As higher- income people displace lower-income residents, gentrification has the opposite effect.
• Reduction in diversity accelerates as developers and speculators drive up property values and property taxes increase.
• By 2010, the percentage of the city’s population that is low income is expected to fall from 45.4 percent to 36 percent, while the middle- and upper-income brackets will increase—by as much as 7 percent for the latter.

Age Diversity Highlights:

• The most age-diverse neighborhoods are widely dispersed throughout the city, and several of the highest-ranking ones are on the South Side.
• South Chicago and Ashburn are the most age-diverse communities with one-third of the population being under 18 and 18 percent being 55 or older.
• Hyde Park has comparatively little age diversity, which is not uncommon for a neighborhood with large concentrations of college students.

For a full list of the 23 most diverse neighborhoods cited by DePaul’s researchers and for a copy of the study, visit the Chaddick Institute’s Web site at: http://condor.depaul.edu/~chaddick/ or contact Lauren Fischer by e-mail at lfische6@depaul.edu or by phone at 312/362-5731.