1960

Richfield was a rapidly growing community in the 1950s. As a postwar, inner-ring suburban community, Richfield was approaching full development by 1960, with 42,523 people and 10,893 households. Half of its residents were living in the same home they lived in five years earlier, a sign of growing stability. However, people were still moving into the community and they were coming primarily from the central cities. In 1960, the baby boom had not yet peaked and Richfield, like other new suburbs, was a community of families with children.

The following statistics offer a snapshot of Richfield in 1960:

• 99.7 percent of the population were white.
• 91 percent of all households were homeowners.
• 71 percent of all households were married couples with children. On average, there were 3.89 people per household.
• 45 percent of the population were children and only 3 percent of the population were seniors. The resulting median age was 23.6.
• Only 1 percent of the population aged 17 and over was divorced, and only 9 percent were never married.
• Most families with children had mothers who were full-time caretakers. Only 37 percent of females over age 16, and 22 percent of women with children under age 6, were in the labor force.
• The largest employing occupations were in the manufacturing sector. Craftsmen, foremen and operators accounted for 23 percent of Richfield's workers. Clerical and professional and technical workers accounted for 19 percent of workers each. Executives/managers and sales workers made up 12 and 13 percent, respectively, and service workers only 2 percent of workers.
• Given the makeup of Richfield's workers as well as the demographic makeup of its households, which were mostly young families with children with few retirees or single adults, median household income in Richfield was high, 31 percent higher than the average in Hennepin County.

1960-1970

Richfield's population and households continued to grow in the 1960s, but they grew more slowly than during the previous decade. The population increased to 47,231 and households to 14,081 by 1970. With fewer new comers to the community, Richfield's population was becoming more stable. In 1970, the percentage of residents living in the same home as five years earlier increased to over 60 percent. New comers to the community, however, were no longer as likely to come from the central cities as a decade ago. They were nearly as likely to have come from another city in the metro area or another city outside of the metro area.

New household forms were emerging in the 1960s as baby boomers were growing up and moving away from home. While the dominant household type was still the married couple with children, this prototype family was beginning to fade. The movement of baby boomers into adulthood spawned a growing generation of young, single adults (i.e. nonfamily households). It also created an expanding generation of 'empty nester' families and a generation of working women. The female labor force participation rate soared during the 1960s, fueled by a growing number of young, single women and women who were no longer raising young children. The share of working mothers with young children also grew, but not as rapidly.

Young adult baby boomers were setting new social trends, ones which would have tremendous implications for work and family life over the next two decades. In unprecedented numbers, young adults went to college and females pursued careers and postponed marriage and childbearing.

The changing composition of the labor force was changing the occupational makeup of Richfield workers, with a growing share employed in clerical and service occupations, which were female dominated.

The growth in the population of young adults created demand for rental housing and nearly half of all new housing units added during the 1960s in Richfield were renter-occupied. By 1970, renters accounted for nearly a quarter of all households, compared to 9 percent in 1960.

Median household income in Richfield was beginning to decline during the 1960s, relative to that of the metro region as a whole, however, poverty remained Iow.

The following statistics provide a snapshot of Richfield in 1970 and illustrate how the community changed during the 1960s:

• 99.3 percent of the population were white.
• The share of homeowners declined to 68 percent of all householders.
• The share of residents living in the same home as they were in five years earlier grew to 61 percent, illustrating the slow down in the share of new comers to the community.
• With the end of the baby boom in the early 1960s, the share of families with children dropped to 49 percent of households by 1970, and the share of children in the population fell to 34 percent. This led to a decline in the average household size to 3.17.
• The share of seniors in Richfield doubled to 6 percent of the population during the 1960s, giving rise to a median age of 26 years.
• The rate of divorce increased to 3 per 100 people and the percent of the population never married grew to 18.
• The female labor force participation rate climbed to 58 percent, although most of the growth was attributed to women without children. The labor force participation rate among mothers of young children grew to 32 percent.
• Employment in all sectors increased during the 1960s. The share of Richfield workers employed as craftsmen, foremen or operators declined slightly to 22 percent, while the share employed as clerical workers grew to 25 percent and service workers to 11 percent, reflecting the growth of women in the labor force. The share of professional and technical workers remained at 19 percent, while the share of executives and managers declined slightly to 10 percent.
• Just 1.8 percent of the population and 2.8 percent of households were living in poverty in 1969. The poverty rate was highest among young single adults and single parent families.

1970 – 1980

Population growth metro wide slowed during the 1970s as baby-boom children grew up and left home. As a result, Richfield's population declined to 37,851. Nonetheless, the formation of households continued, and reached 15,254 in 1970.

In the 1970s, the early residents of Richfield were maturing and creating a stable population, resulting in an increase in the share of residents living in the same home they lived in five years earlier increasing to over 60 percent. The increase in this population also reflected the declining share of the population accounted for by newcomers to the community.

The demographic trends of the 1960s precipitated a more diverse community, particularly in terms of age and household composition. With no more baby boomers to raise, the traditional married couple with children no longer dominated Richfield's households.

The impact of a maturing population was matched by a growing number of young baby boomers. There was a rapid rise in the 'never married' population and in the number of nonfamily households. By the late 1970s, however, baby boomers were beginning to marry and to raise families, but not with the same set of rules as the previous generation. They were setting new social norms governing personal relationships, marriage and raising children: cohabitation, divorce, and single parenthood all became much more prevalent. Equally important was the increasing share of working mothers with young children, which occurred both for reasons of economic necessity and for the choice of practicing a career. These shifts in lifestyle led to a sharp decline in the number of children baby boomers would have and the number of families with children they would generate.

The movement of baby boomers into their childrearing years in the late 1970s meant that baby boomers were beginning to buy homes. As result, the growth in the demand for rental housing began to stabilize and the share of renter-occupied households grew only slightly in the 1970s.

During the 1970s, the rate of poverty increased in Richfield. Most of the growth was attributed to the growth in young single adults, who have higher rates of poverty than their middle-aged and married counterparts.

Two additional trends took on more force in the 1970s: the aging of the population and the growth in the number and share of people of color.

The following statistics provide a snapshot of Richfield in 1980 and illustrate how the community changed during the 1970s:

• People of color grew to 2.9 percent of the population.
• The share of homeowning householders dropped slightly to 68 percent.
• By 1980, the share of families with children dropped to 30 percent of households and married couples without children outnumbered had those with children. At the same time, the share of these families headed by a single parent doubled to 16 percent. The decline in the share of married couples with children was due to the postponement of marriage among baby boomers, and to divorce, which doubled to 7 percent by the end of the decade, was also a factor.
• Nonfamily households expanded at a rate unmatched before or since the 1970s and, by 1980, they had outnumbered families with children.
• The share of seniors grew to 11 percent of the population and nearly 19 percent of households. Approximately 40 percent of senior households were comprised of seniors living alone.
• By the end of the 1970s, most of the baby boomers had moved into adulthood and the oldest were just beginning to have children. The drop in the share of children in Richfield accelerated and, by 1980, just 22 percent of the population were children.
• The decline in families with children and increase in senior households generated a rapid decline in household size (to 2.46 people) and increase in the median age (to 32) by 1980.
• The share of females over age 16 in the labor force continued to climb, reaching 73 percent in 1980. And, the share of women with children under age 6 in the labor force grew to 59 percent.
• The share of Richfield workers employed as craftsmen, foremen or operators declined to 20 percent, while the share employed as clerical workers remained at 25 percent and service workers grew to 13 percent. The share of professional and technical workers declined to 14 percent during the 1970s, while the share of executives and managers grew about one percentage point. The share of sales workers grew to 13 percent.
• The rate of poverty grew to 3.7 percent of the population and 4.5 percent of households by 1979. Nonfamily households accounted for most of the growth in poverty, however, the poverty rate among single parent families actually declined, from 26 percent in 1969 to 15 percent in 1979.

1980-1990

The decade of the 1980s was one of booming development for the Twin Cities metropolitan area, with exploding population growth in outer-ring suburban communities. Growth was fueled largely by the movement of the baby-boom generation into the homebuyer market and childrearing years. The population decline in Richfield slowed while households continued to grow, primarily among homeowners.

The slowing decline in the population was attributed in part to the growth in the number of young baby boomers (aged 25 to 35), which slowed the rate of net out-migration among this population. Unlike its inner-ring counterpart, Edina, Richfield was home to a larger share of younger baby boomers in their twenties and early thirties, than older baby boomers in their late thirties and early 4Os.

The evolving diversity of Richfield's population and households in the 1970s burgeoned during the 1980s. The population was becoming, all at the same time, more mature, reflective of various people of color, economically mixed, and heterogeneous in family and household form.

It may have been expected that the traditional married couple family with children would become a predominant household type again in Richfield with the advent of the baby boomers childrearing years. This did not happen, for three main reasons: First, the impact of the baby boomlet of the 1980s was nothing like the original baby boom, with baby boomers postponing marriage, working and having far fewer children than their parents did. The childbearing period has been much shorter lived and family size has fallen sharply. Second, families with children today are quite different than the "traditional" two parent family of the 1960s, with a significant share of divorced, never married and step families. And third, communities with the largest proportion of families with children are new and rapidly growing, outer-ring suburban communities. These new suburbs were in large part spawned by the childrearing baby boomers, just as Richfield was largely created by the parents of the baby boom generation.

While the overall labor force participation rate of Richfield's workers declined in the 1980s with a growing number of retirees, the labor force participation rate grew among working mothers. By 1990, the share of women with children under age 6 in the labor force jumped to 75 percent. Children over age 6 of single parent families were as likely to have their only parent in the work force as children of two parent families were to have both parents in the work force. While half of women worked less than full-time year-round, this employment arrangement was the fastest growing among women.

The composition of the labor force continued to evolve, with a growing share of people employed in professional, and executive/managerial positions, and a declining share in clerical workers, foremen, craftsmen and operators. Clerical occupations were still the most common, however.

Richfield's median household income continued to fall relative to the average in Hennepin County. As income fell, the poverty rate increased. However, the rate of decline in household income is not directly related to the rate of growth in poverty: while Richfield's household income was lower than the metro average in 1989, its poverty rate was also lower. Nearly all of the growth in poverty in the 1980s was attributed to the growth in the number of single parent families in poverty, which led to a rise in the number of children in poverty.

Richfield was also a more affordable place to live relative to the growing outer-ring suburbs on average. Both median rent and mortgage costs were lower than those of the metro average in 1990.

The decade of the 1980s was the turning point in the aging and racial and ethnic diversification of Richfield's population, trends that will play dominant roles in shaping Richfield's demographics over the foreseeable future.

The following statistics provide a snapshot of Richfield in 1990 and illustrate how the community changed during the 1980s:

• While the white population declined in number during the 1980s, people of color grew to over 2,500 people, and to 7 percent of the population. The largest minority populations were Southeast Asian and African Americans, and they were significantly younger than their white counterparts. They had a larger share of young families with children and therefore their representation among young adults and children was higher than among the overall population. Minority households tended to be lower-income, have lower rates of homeownership and higher rates of poverty than white households.
• The childbearing era of the baby boomers slowed but did not stop the decline in the share of families with children. These households accounted for just 19 percent of all households in 1990. At the same time, families were changing. Single parent families increased 41 percent in number during the 1980s and to 27 percent of all families with children in 1990, which was higher than the average of 23 percent in the seven-county metro region as a whole.
• While the baby boomlet generated an increase of 11 percent in the number of young children during the 1980s, the share of children in the population continued to decline, to an unprecedented Iow of 20 percent of the population. At the same time, the number of seniors grew to 6,052 people and 17 percent of the population.
• Married couples with no children at home and nonfamily households outnumbered families with children by a ratio of 1.2 to 1 and 1.5 to 1, respectively. Combined, the shifts in household types resulted in a continuation of the decline in the average household size. In 1990, it reached 2.29 people.
• In 1990, the share of women with children under age 6 in the labor force increased to 75 percent, and the share women working full-time year-round increased from 46 percent in 1980 to 50 percent in 1990.
• Clerical workers accounted for 22 percent of Richfield workers, professional and technical for 18 percent, managers and executives for 13 percent, sales for 13 percent, craftsmen/ foremen and operators for 18 percent and service workers for 13 percent.
• The growth in professional and managerial positions is reflected in the growing educational attainment levels of Richfield's population. In 1990, 31 percent of the population aged 25 and older had four or more years of college. While this is lower than the average of 37 percent in the seven-county metro area, it is a significant increase from 18 percent in 1980.
• Median contracted rent was 11 percent lower than the average in the seven-county metro region and homeowner costs (with a mortgage) were 12 percent lower. The burden of housing costs is greater for renters than owners: 16 percent of renters earned an income of less than $10,000, compared to 4 percent of homeowners, and nearly 85 percent of those in this income range paid 35 percent or more of their income on housing costs.
• The percentage of Richfield's population in poverty increased to 5.5 percent in 1989, and most of the growth was attributed to the increase in single parent families in poverty, who accounted for 29 percent of households in poverty. The poverty rate among single parent families was 25 percent on average and 40 percent among those headed by females. The growth in poverty among families with children has resulted in an increase in poverty among children. The child poverty rate grew from 3.8 percent in 1979 to 9 percent in 1989, and the share of children eligible for the free and reduced school lunch grew from 11 percent in the 1984/85 school year to 23 percent in the 1992/93 school year. At the same time, the poverty rate among senior households declined, especially among seniors living without family (from 12.5 percent in 1979 to 8.8 in 1989).

1990s AND BEYOND

Richfield has evolved from being a homogeneous community of young families and children in the 1950s and 1960s into a community of diverse families and individuals today. The following is a summary of projected demographic, social and economic trends affecting Richfield in the 1990s and beyond.

Growing Racial and Ethnic Diversity

While Richfield's overall population is expected to grow over the next two decades, to about 36,500 in the year 2000, racial and ethnic minority populations will grow faster than the population overall, giving rise to a growing share of people of color in Richfield. The faster than average growth among people of color will occur both through continued migration into the community and through natural means (births exceeding deaths). Communities of color have higher growth rates primarily because they have a larger share of adults in their childbearing age than the white population.

Continued growth among foreign-born immigrant populations, especially Southeast Asians, is also expected to occur in the 1990s.

Changes in Age Composition

Over the next two decades, changes in the age composition of Richfield's population will be largely driven by the middle-aging of the baby boomers and the growing senior population.

The baby-boom bulge is middle aging, giving rise to the population aged 36 to 55 in the 1990s and the 46 to 65 in the 2000s. By the year 2010, the baby-boom population will begin reaching the senior age bracket, causing the growth in the senior population to accelerate.

As the baby-boom population moves into its middle years, the young adult population will decline. Through the remainder of the 1990s, there will be a decline in the adult population under age 35, and in the decade of the 2000s there will be a corresponding decline in the population aged roughly 30 to 45.

These trends are not particular to Richfield and will affect not only this community and the metropolitan region of which it is a part, but the nation as a whole as well. However, the demographics of a particular place differ slightly in nature from the broader trends. As an inner-ring suburb, Richfield developed immediately after WW II, and the timing of Richfield's development determined the community's housing stock. Smaller and more affordable, on average, than that of growing outer-ring suburbs, Richfield's housing has tended to attract young families in the first-time homebuyer market in the 1980s, Richfield's population aged 25 to 34 became significantly larger than that aged 35 to 44, and this trend may affect the rate of growth in the middle-aged population in Richfield over the next decade and a half. By virtue of its numbers, the baby-boom population should cause the rate of growth in the 35 to 54 year age group to grow in the 1990s, and in the 45 to 64 year age group to grow in the 2000s. However, the rate of growth is likely to be mitigated somewhat by continued out-migration of families as they reach middle age. Correspondingly, the rate of decline among young adults (ages 20 to 35) should be slowed by continued in-migration.

These trends in the adult population will dictate the growth patterns of the child population. As baby boomers are becoming middle-aged, their children are moving out of their preschool years and into their school and teenage years. Throughout the remainder of the 1990s, preschool-aged children will decline in number and population share, the growth in the number of school-aged children will begin to slow, and the growth in the teenage population will increase. The rate of growth and decline in these child populations, however, will correspond to the rate of growth and decline in the adult population described above. If, for example, the decline in young adults is slowed by continued in-migration, so too should the decline in preschool-aged children slow.

The longer term trend in children, however, is that of declining numbers. Toward the end of the decade, children of the baby boomlet will begin to reach young adulthood, and in the 2000s, children of all ages will decline in number and as a share of the population. As this happens, of course, the young adult population will begin to grow again, but its size will not match that of the 1970s and 1980s when baby boomers were in their young adult years.

The timing of Richfield's development is not only reflected in its housing stock, but is also mirrored by the aging of the population. Richfield's population has been maturing for nearly 50 years and therefore Richfield, relative to newer and growing suburbs, has a large senior population. Richfield's senior population will continue to grow rapidly through the year 2010 (which is when baby boomers begin reaching the senior age bracket) as a share of the population because of the anticipated overall decline in the number of children. However, growth in the number of seniors is expected to slow during this period because of the smaller number of people moving into the senior age bracket relative to that of the 1980s.

Minority populations may also have a growing impact on the overall age composition of Richfield's population over the next two decades Because of their small numbers, minority populations have not had any significant impact on the overall age composition of Richfield's population to date, even though they are younger, on average, than the white population. A significant growth in the share of minorities, however, would likely have a mitigating effect on the overall aging of the community's population.

Changes in Households and Families

Shifts in the age composition of the population will have a corresponding impact on the composition of families and households in Richfield. Other forces will also help shape the future makeup of Richfield's households, including continued migration of new families and individuals into the community and trends in divorce, marriage and fertility.

• The largest household types in the 1990s and 2000s will be those formed by the largest population groups: baby boomers and seniors.
• During the 1990s, the share of households comprised of families with children should remain stable because the baby-boom population is still in its childbearing years. However, baby boomers are moving out of their childbearing years in the early 1990s, and their children are growing up and will begin to move away from home toward the end of the decade. These trends will cause the decline in the share of families with children, and the growth in empty-nester families, to accelerate toward the end of the decade and continuing through the 2000s. The rate of decline in families with young children, however, may be slowed in Richfield by continued in-migration of young families.
• As families with children decline, so too should the number of all family types, married, single parent and step parent. However, the structure of the family should continue to evolve. Because of the various factors influencing the family structure, it is difficult to project what its future composition will be. Nonetheless, there is currently little evidence of a decline in the share of families headed by single and step parents and thus it should be expected that these family types will continue to represent a significant share of families with children.
• The number of teenage parents may increase in the 1990s, with the anticipated growth in the teenage population. This is because, although the teenage pregnancy rate has declined in South Hennepin, the rate of live births among teenagers has increased. This trend would be expected to continue through the first half of the next decade and then decline as the number of teenagers falls.
• Nonfamily householders under age 65 should decline in number and as a share of the population during the 1990s due to the movement of baby boomers out of their twenties. The composition of nonfamily households will also change, with a growing share comprised of middle-aged divorced and never married adults as baby boomers move into the 36 to 55 year age bracket.
• Toward the end of the decade, however, the number of nonfamily households will increase as children of the baby boomlet begin to reach young adulthood and move away from home. Yet, young, nonfamily households will not be as great in number as they were in the 1970s and 1980s when baby boomers were in their twenties.
• While the number and share of senior households will continue to grow rapidly in the 1990s and 2000s, the rate of growth in the number of senior households should slow slightly corresponding to the slower rate of growth in the number of seniors. The share of households comprised of seniors, however, will continue to grow rapidly as the share of children declines, and an increasing share of senior households will be comprised of seniors living alone.
• All combined, the changes in household composition will result in a declining average household size. This means that growth in households will continue to outpace growth in population.

Trends in Income and Poverty

Median household income should continue to decline in Richfield as the share of the community's working population moves into retirement. Assuming stable economic conditions, however, this decline should stow as baby boomers move into their prime wage earning years.

Dual-income families should continue to be the norm and are likely to grow slightly in number as baby boomers, who withdrew from, or did not enter, the remunerated labor force to raise children during the 1980s, enter it in the 1990s. Also, more women may be expected to move into full-time year-round employment.

The changing demographics of Richfield's population will not only effect changes in median household income, but also in the share of population living in poverty. During the 1980s, inner-ring suburban communities became increasingly impacted by the growth in poverty and near poverty conditions in the metro region. Most of the growth in poverty in Richfield over the past decade was attributed to the growth in poverty among nonfamily households and single parent families. Because baby boomers are passing out of their twenties as well as their childbearing years, both young nonfamily and single parent families with children are expected to decline in number in the metro region and in Richfield during the 1990s and 2000s, which means that the number of families and individuals in poverty may also decline. This demographic change would cause a decline in the overall rate of poverty in the metro region, and the rate of poverty in Richfield would also be expected to decline.

The future trend in poverty, however, is unclear and is dependent on a mix of variables. If the rate of poverty in the metro region continues to grow, the rate of poverty in Richfield would also be expected to grow because suburban communities, especially some inner-ring suburbs, have become home to a growing share of the region's Iow-income population. The Iow-income population in Richfield, however, is not likely to be comprised of a large number of very poor families and individuals (those with an income below 75 percent of the poverty line) who remain highly concentrated in the central cities.

Webmaster's Note: Special thanks to Judy Miller, former District 280 secretary, for this reprint.