A few months ago I posted on my Twitter page, yes, this its has a Twitter page, the census numbers for the neighborhood.

In 1940 the number of residents topped at about 8,235. The last census taken found 3,028 residents. That's way less than half of the 1940 numbers. Why? I have several  theories, one being that we don't live that way anymore. There aren't a lot of large families under one roof. People have roommates, no longer keeping boarders in the house. Families who rent, usually rent separate units that may be in the basement, or a completely separate floor, not several rooms in the same house. Boarding houses are a rare thing in DC in the 21st century. No we 21st century residents are different. We have smaller families, or we live alone. We don't crowd into bedrooms and we don't rent out extra rooms often for income.

I should compare number of dwelling units, because I think the numbers comparing 1940 and 2010 won't be terribly different. If the number of units aren't too different, then what does that say about housing and density?