Soldiering is not for Kenmore Square-ians
Who’s serving in the military? Not people from Kenmore Square, according to the U.S. military:
More than 800 5-digit areas had zero recruits in both 1999 and 2003, and the average household income of these zip codes is lower than the national median. When ranked in terms of total population, the absolute bottom zip code is 02215, an urban neighborhood which abuts the “Harvard Bridge” in Boston and had zero recruits.
Well, I have served in an army, although not in the Army.
02215 is the proud home Fenway Park and the famous Citgo Sign in Kenmore Square.
Zero sounds really bad, especially since there’s a recruiting center just around the corner, but things are probably not what they seem. I’m guessing that the Armed Forces have done quite a bit of recruiting in 02215 (Boston University, the leading supplier of students in the ZIP code, has an ROTC program). I assume the recruited students are spoken for, so to speak, by their hometown ZIP codes. I don’t think much of the non-student population in our ZIP code is particularly appealing to the military.
02215 demos (2000):
Population: 22,000
White 70%
Black 4%
Hispanic 7%
Asian 16%
Population in group-quarters: 43% (students, lots and lots of students)
English as second language at home 31%
Foreign born 22%
