Young adults fleeing county’s elite neighborhoods

Young educated workers are fleeing Westchester”™s most exclusive neighborhoods faster than you can say “brain drain,” according to a new housing report.

There is an exodus of adults aged 25 to 34 years old out of the most expensive towns in Westchester and New York City”™s other suburbs, according to a new report from Community Housing Innovations Inc., a fair housing group.

Rye saw the fastest “brain drain” pace, with 63 percent of the 25-34 demographic leaving the community since 2000, according to the report. Over the same time, Pound Ridge lost 58 percent, Lewisboro 54 percent and Scarsdale 52 percent.

Of the 10 communities with the largest change in that age group, all were named in a 2009 housing discrimination settlement with the county. In that settlement, Westchester agreed to build or obtain 750 affordable housing units in some of its most elite ”“ and least racially diverse ”“ communities. Those communities also experienced heavy losses of its 35 to 44 year old demographic.

The report, released Wednesday and written by the group”™s executive director Alexander Roberts, tied the population shift to the price of housing and lack of affordable units in the communities. Roberts, in the report, attributed the lack of affordable housing to zoning that favored larger single-family homes. As the implementation of the 2009 settlement drags on, Westchester County and some of the communities targeted have disagreed that local zoning was exclusionary.

The county”™s more integrated communities, meanwhile, experienced less drastic declines and in some cases actually saw growth in recent years. Peekskill saw an 8 percent increase in the 25-34 age group and White Plains saw a 6 percent increase in that same demographic.

The study used data from the American Community Survey on PolicyMap.com.

Westchester saw a countywide 12.83 percent loss in its 25-34 age group, which was slightly less than Suffolk and Nassau counties, with 12.74 percent and 12.74 percent, respectively.

By community:

Rye
-63 percent (25-34)
-16 percent (35-44)

Pound Ridge
-58 percent (25-34)
-15 percent (35-44)

Lewisboro
-54 percent (25-34)
-36 percent (35-44) 

Scarsdale
–52 percent (25-34)
-15 percent (35-44)

Somers
-46 percent (25-34)
-21 percent (35-44)

Larchmont
-45 percent (25-34)
-30 percent (35-44)

New Castle
-40 percent (25-34)
-21 percent (35-44)

Yorktown Heights
-36 percent (25-34)
-25 percent (35-44)

Bronxville
-23 percent (25-34)
-28 percent (35-44)

Bedford
-21 percent (25-34)
-18 percent (35-44)

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was updated from its original version in which the countywide population losses of 25-34 year olds in Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk was incorrect The original numbers posted were for the 35-44 age group.