Strangers Next Door: The Decline of Neighborhood Socializing and the Class Divide in Belonging

American Enterprise Institute ^ | April 27, 2026 | Daniel A. Cox, Jae Grace, Avery Shields

[daniel1212]

As Americans spend more of their time online, the neighborhood—once a primary physical location for real-world socialization—is playing less of a central role than ever before.... Whether because of social media distractions, travel sports commitments, or the rising use of freelance service providers ... Americans rely far less on close neighbors and venture out less often into their communities. As Marc Dunkelman contends in The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community, less routine interaction with neighbors and others in the “middle ring” of social connections allows us far fewer opportunities to practice constructive debate.[i]...

It’s not only a class divide. The new American Neighbor survey reveals evidence of a religious gap as well. Those who attend religious services frequently are much more socially active in their neighborhoods than are those who seldom or never participate in religious services. Americans who regularly attend religious services have stronger social connections with their neighbors and are more inclined to work with them to address community problems and concerns. Religious Americans interact with their communities differently, and their views about what it means to be a good neighbor are distinct. They are more likely to believe that good neighbors should seek opportunities to help those who live around them, even if their neighbors did not ask for help....

Comparisons to a 2012 study by Pew Research Center show that Americans are engaging less with their neighbors than just over a decade ago.[ii]...

Although the decline in neighborly interactions has occurred among Americans from all backgrounds, the collapse has been far more pronounced among certain groups. Social exchanges between neighbors are much more common among older Americans than among young adults. A majority (56 percent) of seniors report chatting with their neighbors at least a few times a week, demonstrating only a modest seven-point drop from 2012.

In contrast, patterns of socializing with neighbors have changed dramatically among young adults over the past decade. Only one in four young adults now report regularly engaging with their neighbors, but in 2012, more than half (51 percent) of young adults said they conversed with neighbors a few times a week or more.

Only 40 percent of Americans report talking to their neighbors regularly (at least a few times a week). This marks a considerable decline in social interaction between neighbors; in 2012, nearly six in 10 Americans (59 percent) said they talked to their neighbors at least a few times a week. In 2025, most Americans interacted with their neighbors sparingly. More than four in 10 (41 percent) Americans talked with their neighbors no more than a few times a month, while 17 percent report that they did not talk to their neighbors at all...

there is no indication that homeownership is associated with more frequent interactions with neighbors. Americans who rent their homes report engaging with their neighbors about as often as do those who own their homes...

Married Americans report talking to their neighbors more frequently and experienced a smaller overall decline in these interactions over the past decade. ...

Against a backdrop of rising social isolation, most Americans believe that being a good neighbor is more about keeping your distance than about engaging with the people living nearby...

Religious Americans tend to have different conceptions of neighborliness as well. Close to half (45 percent) of Americans who attend religious services multiple times a week say being a good neighbor requires engaging with the people who live around you even if they do not request it.

[Dr. Sivana]

I grew up in a neighborhood where the neighboring families often had children my age. A healthy mix of ethnicities that we didn’t even think about: Irish, German, Italian, Portuguese, French-Jewish, African. There were a couple of cranky “Get off my lawn” old types. Most of the older people were customers on my paper route, and I got to know them that way. There was a rusty sign on the side street of our house that read “Watch Out for Children”, where we often played ball or “keep away”. Wiffleball was in my back yard because it was flat and rectangular with a fence. We made up rules. Under the fence was a double. Over was a home run. The big tree doubled as first base, and if the fielder threw the ball and hit the tree before the batter got there he was out. A foul on the roof that was caught rolling off as an out (often the pitcher, next to the roof would e guided by the fielder who could see the ball (left ... left ... ok!). You could throw the ball at the runner between bases for the out. We made up all these rules with no adult intervention. It was great.

The next door neighbor was a middle-aged working class widow with a shack-up. I didn’t figure it out. He was just called “Choo-Choo”, but I was advised not to interact, and they didn’t get the local paper.

I bought cigarettes for one of my newspaper customers (another working class older widow who worked at the steel plant that was on the main drag, which had been a mixture of businesses, factories, older homes, full-serve gas stations and car dealerships.), getting a nice tip. I walked the town or road my bike.

There was one mean divorced lady with a little mean dog. As paper boy, I had access to nice dogs and numerous cats. The Italians across the street let us sled on their hill, unless they were in a mood.

I didn’t realize that this setup was the last of its kind in a Connecticut that would never exist again. In the future, there were few kids in the neighborhood, and we had to turn to our church and drive for the friends for our children.

[dfwgator]

My neighborhood is mostly people from India, I had no clue it would be this way when I bought it.

[dfwgator]

I should add though, the Indians do actually talk to their neighbors and you see the kids playing with each other in the streets.

[dfwgator]

That’s back when we still had stay-at-home mothers, who could supervise the house, so all the kids would play together and go from one house to the other.

[T.B. Yoits]

All by design.

The government planners laid out new neighborhoods by income, not by social connections, and intentionally broke up social enclaves as a means of controlling the population. They learned well from their Soviet and British Socialist counterparts in Europe.

Federal housing programs started during the first Depression and ramped up during the 1960s.

Entire neighborhoods were destroyed to build government housing projects. It's about control, not the residents.

Lawsuits against male social organizations killed them most of them quickly.

Forced bussing and school integration killed off many social neighborhoods.

Soft-on-crime policies killed off cultural neighborhoods.

The government-aided illegal alien immigration and Section 8 Housing vouchers killed off the last remnants of many cultural neighborhoods.

So-called "anti-discrimination" laws requiring "low income" housing, with the threat of compliance by a hammer of Federal lawsuits, ensure that no new neighborhoods would be built along cultural lines.

Unless you're wealthy, then no restrictions apply; Martha's Vineyard, Bel Air, the Hamptons, etc. And of course, if you make your neighborhood so ethnic, no one else will want to move there anyway.

Led Zeppelin captured the destruction of neighborhoods in the inner fold of the fourth Led Zeppelin album, with the picture on the wall of the home being torn down to make way for housing projects (which the British call "estates").

[dfwgator]

Genesis - Get ‘Em Out By Friday

Get ‘em out by Friday
You don’t get paid ‘til the last one’s well on his way
Get ‘em out by Friday
It’s important that we keep to schedule, there must be no delay

I represent a firm of gentlemen who recently purchased this
House and all the others in the road
In the interest of humanity we’ve found a better place for you
To go, go-woh, go-woh

Oh no, this I can’t believe
Oh Mary, they’re asking us to leave

Get ‘em out by Friday
I’ve told you before, ‘s good many gone if we let them stay
And if it isn’t easy
You can squeeze a little grease and our troubles will soon run away

After all this time, they ask us to leave
And I told them we could pay double the rent
I don’t know why it seemed so funny
Seeing as how they’d take more money

The Winkler called again, he came here this morning
With four hundred pounds and a photograph of the place he has found
A block of flats with central heating
I think we’re going to find it hard

Now we’ve got them
I’ve always said that cash cash cash can do anything well
Work can be rewarding
When a flash of intuition is a gift that helps you excel-sell-sell-sell

Here we are in Harlow New Town
Did you recognize your block across the square, over there
Sadly since last time we spoke
We’ve found we’ve had to raise the rent again
Just a bit

Oh no, this I can’t believe
Oh Mary, and we agreed to leave

This is an announcement from Genetic Control
It is my sad duty to inform you of a four foot restriction on
Humanoid height

I hear the directors of Genetic Control have been buying all the
Properties that have recently been sold, taking risks oh so bold

It’s said now that people will be shorter in height
They can fit twice as many in the same building site
They say it’s alright

Beginning with the tenants of the town of Harlow
In the interest of humanity, they’ve been told they must go
Told they must go-go-go-go

I think I’ve fixed a new deal
A dozen properties, we’ll buy at five and sell at thirty four
Some are still inhabited

It’s time to send the Winkler to see them
He’ll have to work some more

With land in your hand, you’ll be happy on earth
Then invest in the Church for your heaven

[woodbutcher1963]

We moved to this home 15 years ago to get out of suburbia.
We were surrounded by neighbors that we got along with EXCEPT the guy right next door.
So, coming out of the great recession we found this 12 acre property with a house built in 1972. We moved here because we breed dogs. That one neighbor complained about them.

The nice thing is that my closest neighbor is 500 feet away.
I hunt in my backwoods. I am surrounded by generally large properties.

The biggest being my neighbor to the north who has 55 acres. The people on that property sold it a few years ago to a young couple with young kids. I went over to introduce myself when they were rebuilding the house. They were not home. They called the cops. He came over on his ATV. I told him I just wanted to introduce myself and ask his permission to hunt on his property adjacent to theirs. That I had been hunting on it for 13 years. At first he gave his permission. That was two years ago.

The following spring he put up POSTED signs all along his road frontage and down the 1100’ line separating our land. I have not spoken to him since. I did shoot a deer on MY property last November. My tree stand is literally 3’ from our property line. So, I legally can not shoot anything to my right side anymore. Two of the previous deer I had taken over the last five years were just over the line on what is now their property.

So, even living in the country you can still have Aholes move in next door. Even IF they live a 1/4 mile away.

[1Old Pro]

+1

[dfwgator]

No HOA BS, can you keep it down, what are BBQ’ing (if allowed), your dog kept me up all night, did you hear about so & so..... Not the least bit interested.

---

One question....where’s the nearest hospital? I ask that question because I read where a lot of rural hospitals are at the risk of closing, and that will be a major factor in forcing people to move to the cities/suburbs.

[maddog55]

15 miles away is the nearest hospital and it’s expanding. Great orthopedics.. which is my problems, has it’s own cancer center, helo pad for transport as needed and we have a VA outpatient clinic which is awesome and my primary.

[dfwgator]

Good. I am just concerned when the government takes over healthcare, one of the things they will do is close the rural hospitals. Easy way to funnel everyone into the cities.

[ansel12]

A lot of women worked back then, so not every house had a mom in it.

[maddog55]

Same here.. we bought 10.5 acres then another 2 in front of us for the easement and we’re surrounded by 87,000 acres of USFS. We have a few neighbors we can’t see or hear unless they need something then for some reason I’m the one they call. We’re all in our 70’s we get along because we seldom see one another unless it’s on the one lane road coming up the mountain...the rule is those exiting have right of way so someone has to backup!!

[daniel1212]

I didn’t see mention there of transient living situations as a factor. It used to be far more common for families to settle down in one place and live there until they sold the home as grandparents.

Valid point. And with no kids. Though I have none (single, celibate to serve God) yet I have lived in the same densely populated city for about 34 years, by the grace of God, to do ministry, but normally children foster stability of location after a while.

[maddog55]

I hear you...

I’m working on a conservative plan of action:

I want the government to offer “FREE” car and home insurance, drop all taxes both federal & state. I’d ask for loan forgiveness but I have none !!

They should provide “FREE” groceries and “FREE” gasoline and diesel as well plus a bi-monhly reparation checks for pain and suffering caused by whatever people would believe.

I have to post this is “sarcasm” for some folks.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

This is one of the sadder trend that has taken place over the course of my life. I was born in 1967. As a kid, we had neighborhood block parties. We went out trick-or-treating. We had church events. My parents were constantly at neighbors’ houses for parties, dinners and card gams and the neighbors were at our house for parties and dinners (lots of drinking but that is a different issue). Over time, that slowly went away. Last Halloween, we had about three groups of kids come to the door. We still make an effort to host parties and go to dinner with friends but unless we host the party, its mostly going out to a restaurant with friends. And the younger generations don’t seem to host parties at their homes or have any social event that doesn’t involve simply showing up at a restaurant or paid event. I moan about it from time to time and everyone just rolls their eyes or laughs when I do.

[alexander_busek]

Bonhoeffer explanation of stupidity identifies part of the reason.

"On Stupidity" (Von der Dummheit) is a short essay by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written in the winter of 1943 while he was imprisoned and awaiting execution for his role in the July 20 plot against Hitler.

Regards,

[cgbg]

“The government planners”

Such an innocent phrase—hides so many critical issues.

Here is a link to a book banned by Amazon that discussed the issue:

https://oceanofpdf.com/authors/e-michael-jones/pdf-the-slaughter-of-cities-urban-renewal-as-ethnic-cleansing-download/

[Bonemaker]

“Americans rely far less on close neighbors and venture out less often into their communitie...”

Why would we want to socialize with communists?

[Bonemaker]

School bus stops about a block away and pukes out it’s cargo. All with back packs. Immediately looking down at phones. No concern about possible negligent drivers coming around bus. Don’t even walk/talk with fellow students on way home. I gave on waving to the little shits.