Browse Research and Commentary

More than 70 percent of today's baby boomers and seniors are white, and they grew up during a time when the nation's minority population was relatively small and consisted mainly of African Americans. By contrast, 40 percent of those under age 35 belong to minority groups. They have grown up during a period when racial mingling is the norm at school, work, social occasions and houses of worship.

March 14, 2013, William H. Frey, Phys.org

The fact that outer suburban growth has continued to falter two years after the recession ended calls into question whether today’s younger generations will hold the same residential preferences as their forebears.

February 26, 2013, William H. Frey, The International

We need to have an immigration policy that recognizes the labor-force needs of this country, whatever they are. Clearly, we focus on the high-skilled workers because they have the greatest productivity for the economy. But low-skilled jobs are important, too. As we get a bigger middle-class population, we will need people to work in many of those lower-skilled jobs which may not be filled with our existing population.

January 30, 2013, William H. Frey, National Journal

We still are a country that's kind of divided, and a lot of that fissure in the population tends to be based in race and age and ethnicity. There's kind of a dangerous result in this election when we see older whites moving in one direction and younger minorities moving in another direction.

January 21, 2013, William H. Frey,

What’s constant in this country is its ability to adapt—adapt to people with changing backgrounds, people with changing attitudes. But Hispanics really are a very big part of America’s present and future. And they’re not clustered in one area. They’ve been fanning out to all parts of the United States, and by moving into new parts of the country ...they’re becoming accepted by these communities.

January 19, 2013, William H. Frey, USA Today

The long-term scenario [for Rhode Island] will be at best tepid population gain. It’s quite likely that the state could lose a Congressional seat, as it barely retained its second seat after the past census. If it loses its second seat, it will be the first time the state had one seat since 1793.

January 8, 2013, William H. Frey, New York Times

After decades of wars, a depression, immigration surges, baby booms, boomlets and busts, we are entering a new era of modest growth.

December 20, 2012, William H. Frey, Star-Telegram

When the 2020 Census comes around, we’re going to have a majority-minority child population.

December 13, 2012, William H. Frey, New York Times

Nationally, even modest white support is no longer necessary for a Democratic victory if there is strong turnout for minorities.

November 7, 2012, William H. Frey, Bloomberg Businessweek

Our idea of what racial categories were in the past are changing. I think it's especially going to be changing for younger people as ... there's been an increase in mixed-race marriages, and that will eventually change the classic racial [categories].

September 27, 2012, William H. Frey, The Washington Examiner

What’s new here [in the recently released Census data] is that it shows there’s a pulse in the urban core, in big metro areas that have diverse economies. It’s interesting that Chicago and New York were the top ones, which suggests these are places that will attract young and well-off people who want to feel like they live in an important area. You can’t generalize entirely, of course, because while some urban cores are doing very well, others are still part of a broader suburban trend.

September 27, 2012, William H. Frey, Christian Science Monitor

I think there is at least a hint that we have hit bottom in this post-recession malaise in the United States. And by that I mean we've not turned up, but we're going down at a slower pace, and we might see a little bit of the glimmer of the light at the end of the tunnel.

September 20, 2012, William H. Frey, National Public Radio

On many levels we are continuing to slide in the wrong direction [in terms of recovery] but just at a much slower pace. Now inter-state migration is picking up, it's still below 2007 levels, on a number of measures we are not moving down as quickly as we were. It seems the worst is over.

September 20, 2012, William H. Frey, The Guardian

A big sliver of American society that generally does well tends to cluster in Washington. When people make the argument that $250,000 is middle income, that’s way higher than most of the country regards as middle income. But here in Washington, your next-door neighbor has that kind of income.

September 20, 2012, William H. Frey, Washington Post

We can take good advantage of our history as an immigrant nation in incorporating new people and ideas into our society and economy, which will become even more important as the economy becomes more globalized. The sky's the limit.

September 13, 2012, William H. Frey, USA Today

Even today, young people are are much more open about immigration, much more open about interracial marriage...We've [United States] been so successful in lots of ways, but one aspect that we have not been successful in is total integration of the different racial groups. I think that will change dramatically over the next 30 years.

September 13, 2012, William H. Frey, USA Today

The key [to raising voter turnout among Hispanics] is energizing those eligible voters, getting them to register, getting them to vote.

September 12, 2012, William H. Frey, Bloomberg

A decade from now, I think you'll see [changes in the electoral map due to minority population growth in] Arizona, Texas, and Georgia for sure. You have got to look at the South and West—those are the fast-growing parts of the country—and that's where the minorities are dominating the growth.

August 30, 2012, William H. Frey, Roll Call

[The Asian-American population] is too small to make a difference on their own, but they could be a tipping point [in the 2012 U.S. presidential election]. In certain parts of the country, it’s going to be so close that any group can make a difference one way or the other.

August 19, 2012, William H. Frey, Financial Times

I think it [the lack of minority support for Romney] really is an issue in 2012 as the country is becoming more diverse.

August 14, 2012, William H. Frey, National Public Radio

I think the era of broad prosperity for American seniors will end with the first wave of Baby Boomers, now entering their 60s. Times are tougher for their later Boomer brothers and sisters who entered the labor and housing markets in the late 1970s during tougher economic times.

August 8, 2012, William H. Frey, USA Today

Younger people are still struggling to just buy a home, and the kind of neighborhoods where they end up are not nearly as nice [as where their parents may have bought]. Age isn’t a part of the study [The Rise of Residential Segregation by Income, Pew Research Center], but it underlies it.

August 1, 2012, William H. Frey, Washington Post

Our analysis confirms that President Obama will derive substantial benefit from shifts in the voter pool between 2008 and 2012, though there is considerable—and sometimes—surprising variation across states.

July 9, 2012, William H. Frey, The New Republic

The real question is, will cities continue to hold their own when the suburban housing market picks up? Cities that market themselves well to young people and that offer job growth, cultural amenities and access to rapid transit are likely to see continued growth.

July 8, 2012, William H. Frey, The Roanoke Times

Most of the country is increasing its over-age-45 population simply because people are aging in place. There is some movement among the retired population, but it's not that huge and people who move typically move locally. Florida is the outlier. In the rest of these places the migration is occurring among people under age 45.

July 5, 2012, William H. Frey, Jobs and Hire