Title: The growth of suburbia (article) | Khan Academy
Headings: The growth of suburbia
The growth of suburbia
Overview
Suburbia in the postwar era
Houses on the assembly line
What do you think?
Are you a student or a teacher?
Tips & Thanks
Jeff Kelman
Justin Jarvis
Lachesis
David Alexander
Danielle Albright
Aaron Modlin
CuriousKoKo

Content: During the late 1940s and 1950s, the American landscape changed drastically. Since the late nineteenth century, Americans as well as immigrants had flocked to American cities in search of factory work. In the postwar era, however, that trend was reversed: thanks to low housing costs and GI Bill benefits, even working-class Americans could afford to own homes in the suburbs. Though it might not seem like it matters much whether people live in the city, in the suburbs, or on the moon, residential patterns actually constitute a major influence on society and politics. People pay taxes based on where they live, and political representatives are apportioned based on the populations of districts. Consequently, the postwar exodus to the suburbs was part of a vast reorganization of power and money that affected American industry, race relations, and gender roles. Houses on the assembly line
World War II had gobbled up all of America's production for four years. Factories and construction firms made airplanes and barracks, not automobiles or houses. When the war was over and millions of soldiers returned to the United States, got married, and started the baby boom, there was practically no housing available for them.