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Where have you gone since the days of strolling up Flatbush Avenue, or down Ocean Parkway, or munching on knishes at Nathan's? Not to New England or the midwest, judging from the survey results. Could it be that Brooklynites wouldn't live in New England because of the accent they speak with there? ("Did you say 'Chah-klatt'?" "No! I said 'chaul-klit'!") Lots of Floridians, New Yorkers, and Californians...no surprise there. But there were also quite a number of Texans and Marylanders too. Who'd a thunk it? The overall response was one of the largest of our surveys so far. Ex-Brooklynites responded from twenty-two states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
Unlike the results of this survey among ex-Bronxites, you folks had a large contingent who lived in private houses while in Brooklyn. Therefore, the shift from tenement to private home is not such a major factor when considering how much you like where you are now. Just like the ex-Bronxites, however, is the fact that glaringly absent from the cross-section of states you're living in now are the dust-bowl and midwest states: Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, Idaho, Indiana, etc. Of course, that makes perfect sense: if you're from the boroughs, you're more likely to live in or near areas that tolerate a greater diversity of ethnicities.
Thanks to everyone who participated. The next survey will deal with eating out, and will appear in a few weeks.
The total number of unique, usable responses was 117.
Here is a list and count of where everyone is living:
| Alabama | 2 |
| Alaska | 1 |
| Arizona | 4 |
| California | 14 |
| Colorado | 1 |
| Connecticut | 2 |
| Florida | 16 |
| Georgia | 4 |
| Kentucky | 1 |
| Maryland | 13 |
| Michigan | 3 |
| Minnesota | 2 |
| New Jersey | 9 |
| New Mexico | 1 |
| New York | 16 |
| Ohio | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 4 |
| Puerto Rico | 2 |
| Texas | 10 |
| Virginia | 6 |
| Washington | 1 |
| Washington, D.C. | 2 |
| Canada | 2 |
How many years has it been since you lived in Brooklyn?
| Years | Responses | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 5 | 2 | 1.7% |
| 5 - 9 | 6 | 5.1% |
| 10 - 14 | 10 | 8.5% |
| 15 - 19 | 23 | 19.7% |
| 20 - 25 | 44 | 37.6% |
| 26 - 30 | 21 | 17.9% |
| More than 30 | 11 | 9.4% |
Your current location is...
| Responses | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Urban | 24 | 21% |
| Suburban | 82 | 70% |
| Rural | 11 | 9% |
When you lived in Brooklyn, you lived in...
| Responses | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| An apartment building | 59 | 50% |
| A garden apartment | 0 | 0% |
| A private house | 35 | 30% |
| A row (attached) house | 14 | 12% |
| Another type of home | 9 | 8% |
Now you're living in...
| Responses | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| An apartment building | 7 | 6% |
| A garden apartment | 9 | 8% |
| A private house | 81 | 69% |
| A row (attached) house | 10 | 9% |
| Another type of home | 10 | 9% |
Are there other ex-Brooklynites in your social circle now
(not including relatives)?
| Responses | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 54 | 46% |
| No | 52 | 44% |
| I don't know | 11 | 9% |
Do your friends/neighbors know you're from Brooklyn?
| Responses | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 99 | 85% |
| No | 12 | 10% |
| I don't know | 6 | 5% |
Do you ever get back to Brooklyn?
| Responses | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Never | 25 | 21% |
| Rarely | 54 | 46% |
| Occassionally | 33 | 28% |
| Often | 5 | 4% |
You like where you're living now...
| Responses | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| much less than | 9 | 8% |
| less than | 17 | 15% |
| the same as | 20 | 17% |
| more than | 38 | 32% |
| much more than | 21 | 18% |
| indescribably more than | 12 | 10% |
A significant number of you do not enjoy your current location as much as Brooklyn (almost a quarter of all responses). Is it your location, or is it the times? Perhaps you can't find a good bagel where you are now? Or maybe Collins Avenue is a poor replacement for the boardwalk at Brighton Beach?
I thought it would be interesting to see which relatively unknown towns would show up in the responses. Several of them were unknown to me. Here's a sampling:
Thanks again for participating. Our next survey's topic will be eating out.