Your city's Jewish community

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Docere

Higher income, medium education counties shifted to Trump

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...ote-for-trump/

This list includes Staten Island, Suffolk County NY, and Gloucester County NJ (all heavily Italian American, fairly culturally conservative counties).

This makes sense. There are suburbs that on the surface appear similar, but a suburb of contractors, union guys and the like probably votes different than a suburb of office middle managers.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Something sort of similar happened around Philly, where some suburban counties (Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester) have drifted steadily left, Bucks County hasn't moved since Bill Clinton was president, and South Jersey is getting more conservative.

The first three are kind of like the "Westchester" of Philadelphia in a lot of ways, no? Urbanized inner-ring suburbs (in Delaware County) and the affluent communities of the Main Line.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Docere

The first three are kind of like the "Westchester" of Philadelphia in a lot of ways, no? Urbanized inner-ring suburbs (in Delaware County) and the affluent communities of the Main Line.

Sort of. Delco has more of a working-class white vibe in parts, but it also has more black people, so it balances out. While Bucks is still pretty white, so the swing in the professional-focused towns of Central Bucks towards the Democrats has been canceled out by more working-class Lower Bucks drifting towards the GOP.

[McBane]

I don't think Bucks is so different from any other suburban county. Lower Bucks - adjacent to Philly and Trenton - feature your denser inner-rung suburbs, ranging from working class to middle class to upper middle class communities. As you go further north into Central Bucks, you get a mix new McMansion developments, and gentleman farms/upscale rural homes. As you get further out into Upper Bucks, it begins to align more with the rest of rural PA dotted with random homes and small towns.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Sort of. Delco has more of a working-class white vibe in parts, but it also has more black people, so it balances out. While Bucks is still pretty white, so the swing in the professional-focused towns of Central Bucks towards the Democrats has been canceled out by more working-class Lower Bucks drifting towards the GOP.

Yeah, that makes sense. To generalize, seems like DelCo is an extension of white ethnic and Black Philadelphia, Montgomery and Chester are affluent blue-trending suburbs (with Montgomery being fairly Jewish and Chester being more WASPy), and South Jersey more Italian American and less affluent/culturally liberal than the PA suburbs.

[Docere]

I'm seriously beginning to question some of these community study estimates. 10% of Philadelphia city residents are Jewish? A 50% increase in the Jewish population in ten years? Probably good numbers in Center City and there's a concentration in NE Philly, but that seems high (like 1 out of 4 white residents). I suspect there's a lot of "I had a Jewish grandparent and I identify as partially Jewish" types showing up among younger generations. Which also shows signs of assimilation.

https://www.jewishdatabank.org/conte...Appendices.pdf

Censuses are somewhat conservative but allow for more consistency and comparability but unfortunately no such question in the US census.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Docere

I'm seriously beginning to question some of these community study estimates. 10% of Philadelphia city residents are Jewish?

There's no way that's true. Philly is a pretty big Jewish metro, but the city proper doesn't really have Jewish neighborhoods.

The only heavily observant neighborhood in Philly metro isn't even in Philly proper. It's Lower Merion, right over the city line.

[Docere]

The Pew religious landscape study is probably more accurate.

Jewish religion

Miami 9%
NYC 8%
Boston 4%
Washington 4%
Baltimore 3%
Chicago 3%
Los Angeles 3%
Philadelphia 3%
San Francisco 3%

https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

Obviously this a floor/base, as it excludes ethnic Jews of no religion, but avoids some of these questionable figures from the community estimates.

[Docere]

Of the suburban Philadelphia counties, Montgomery has the largest Jewish population (8-10%). In South Jersey, Camden also significant (in Cherry Hill).

Overall, a bit of class difference between PA suburbs and South Jersey.

College graduates

Chester 50.3%
Montgomery 47.5%
Bucks 38.4%
Delaware 36.7%
Burlington 36.4%
Camden 30.7%
Gloucester 30%
Salem 20.3%

Note that every PA county is ahead of every NJ county.

[Docere]

Ancestry:

Bucks

German 24.7%
Irish 24.6%
Italian 15.9%
English/American 14%

Chester

Irish 23.5%
German 22.2%
English/American 15.8%
Italian 15%

Delaware

Irish 25.7%
Italian 17%
German 14.5%
English/American 11.1%

Montgomery

Irish 21.5%
German 21.5%
Italian 15.5%
English/American 12.2%

Burlington

Irish 20.2%
German 18%
Italian 16.1%
English/American 12.1%

Camden

Irish 19.1%
Italian 16.4%
German 14.6%
English/American 9.5%

Gloucester

Irish 27%
Italian 25.9%
German 21.9%
English/American 12.4%

Salem

Irish 21.1%
German 19.8%
English/American 16.6%
Italian 13.5%

[Crawford]

In the last 10 years, Rockland County, NY had a 63%+ increase in Jewish school enrollment. Adjacent Orange County, NY had a 53% increase.

https://forward.com/news/484700/yesh...new-york-city/

Rockland County is already the most Jewish county in the U.S., probably somewhere in the 40% range. Given the high Orthodox birthrates, it's very likely that Rockland becomes the first majority Jewish county in U.S. history. And probably sooner rather than later.

Bronx County was probably historically the closest U.S. county to majority Jewish status. Around WW2, it's likely that Bronx County was nearing 50% Jewish. If immigration hadn't been curtailed via nativist laws of the late 1920's/early 1930's, it probably would have become majority Jewish.

In Brooklyn, still the largest Orthodox enclave on earth outside of Israel (by a longshot), the Jewish school enrollment only increased by 9%. So while Brooklyn's Orthodox population continues to grow, gentrification and housing shortages have pushed more young families to Rockland and Orange County, NY and Lakewood, NJ. Wealthier families and those who already own will stay in Brooklyn, and the rest will probably end up in the suburban enclaves.

[chris08876]

There's a whole Lafayette College Hillel Society near my home in Forks Township (Easton).

As with many Jewish neighborhoods, the area is very nice. Very nice homes, clean, relatively quiet. The whole college area is historical.

One of my new neighbors down the street is Jewish. Good guy, from NYC. A lot of NYC folks are moving to the Lehigh Valley/Northampton County.

Naturally, a lot of them from Brooklyn and Staten Island. But I haven't observed any of the religious types like you see in Brooklyn (Hasidic or Orthodox). I did observe a couple about 3 months ago at a CVS but that's about it.

Now where my GF is from, Highland Park NJ... that town is the most segregated place I've seen in a while. One side is Jewish with the best schools and nicest homes... the other is not. Complete opposite! And you can tell by the road quality. Potholes increase dramatically depending if your facing West or East. Raritan Avenue is literally the dividing line.

A lot of those towns exist in NJ... where one block can mean the difference between run down and million dollar homes.

[mrnyc]

there is an orthodox area in the middle of staten island. i used to go by it on the way to one of my work sites and i have a friend who has family there. you don’t notice it much. a few people walking around on occassion. otherwise, its completely anonymously suburban and quiet.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Naturally, a lot of them from Brooklyn and Staten Island. But I haven't observed any of the religious types like you see in Brooklyn (Hasidic or Orthodox). I did observe a couple about 3 months ago at a CVS but that's about it.

You rarely see ultra-Orthodox Jews outside their enclaves.

[Quixote]

2021 Study of Jewish LA, the first since 1997, from Brandeis University and the University of Chicago was recently released.

https://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/commun...es-report.html


Some noteworthy things:

• The study focuses on a "catchment area" that excludes the SGV and most of the Gateway Cities, but bleeds into Ventura County beyond Camarillo into Oxnard

• Within the geographic area of focus, there are an estimated 565,000 Jews — 8% of the population (7,062,500)

• Among Jewish couples (married or partnered), 43% are inmarried (two Jews) and 57% are intermarried (one Jew, one non-Jew) — in line with the U.S. Jewish population

• 77% of Jewish children are considered "Jewish in some way" by their parents. Among that group, 88% are considered to be "exclusively Jewish."

• About 50% of Jewish households include an immigrant or a person whose parent(s) are/were immigrants

• 54% of all Jewish adults consider being Jewish either "very" or "extremely" important to their identity

• 50% of Jewish adults are non-denominational (compared to the national average of 32%), while 7% are Orthodox (compared to the U.S. average of 9%)

• The youngest adult age group (22-30) engages in "personal Jewish practices" the most across the board. These activities include talking about Jewish topics; reading/watching/listening to Jewish books, films, and music; wearing a Jewish symbol in public; and studying Jewish text.

• On what is important or essential about being Jewish, 90% of adults say "connecting to family and traditions;" 87% "taking care of Jews in need;" 82% seeing other Jews (past, present, future) as "extended family;" 81% "caring about Israel;" 80% "engaging in Jewish art and culture" (music, food, literature); and 68% "spiritual practice and belief"

• 97% of Jewish adults are either somewhat or very concerned about antisemitism around the world; 93% in the U.S.

• 59% of Jewish adults have been to Israel — 25% once, 24% more than once, and 10% lived there

• 65% of Jewish adults feel "somewhat or very attached to Israel," and 80% consider Israel to be "an essential or important part of being Jewish"

• 7% of Jewish households earning at least $150K a year describe themselves as "financially struggling"

[Quixote]

In Brandeis' 2020 American Jewish Population Estimates report, they estimated LA CSA's Jewish population at 709,000:

LA — 530,000
OC — 87,000
IE — 51,000
Ventura — 41,000

Now this study estimates 565,000 across an area that includes most of Ventura County, but not all, and excludes a substantial portion of LA County.

So...

565,000
81,000 (OC)
51,000 (IE)

That's 697,000 — 12,000 short of the 2020 estimate. Assuming that the excluded area of LA County is at least 1% Jewish, that's already an additional 30,000 Jews. According to the Jewish Data Bank estimates from 2019, Long Beach* is home to 23,750 — in line with conventional estimates of 20-25K. That same study has San Gabriel (presumably the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys) at 30K, although I think both slightly bleed into neighboring counties.

Whatever the case may be, it seems to me that Greater LA's Jewish population may actually be closer to 725-750K.

* Brandeis and UofC are also set to release a study on Long Beach very soon:
https://jewishlongbeach.org/resources/study

[Docere]

Good to see a study for L.A. - last one was in the late 1990s.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Docere

Higher income, medium education counties shifted to Trump

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...ote-for-trump/

This list includes Staten Island, Suffolk County NY, and Gloucester County NJ (all heavily Italian American, fairly culturally conservative counties).

in the big picture that happened with all cultures, not just ny metro jews or italians.

the light blue/white collar lite suburbs of america are as lost for the dems, as is the lower working class in general.

since they lost these votes, the majority of the dem base in america is now down to poors and rich eggheads.

basically in ny metro terms, a manhattan mix.

[Docere]

It looks like around 140,000 Jews live on the Westside (1/4 of the Jewish population of LA County). So it looks like the Westside is about 1/4 Jewish (population of 529,000 according to Wikipedia). The City of Beverly Hills is majority-Jewish.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Docere

It looks like around 140,000 Jews live on the Westside (1/4 of the Jewish population of LA County). So it looks like the Westside is about 1/4 Jewish (population of 529,000 according to Wikipedia). The City of Beverly Hills is majority-Jewish.

2020 beverly hills pop. is 32,701. thats a lotta hype for not many people!