Seventy-three percent of those who perished were over the age of sixty-five. In 1970 about 10.9 million people lived alone, by 1996 that number soared to 24.9 million. Of those reported as living alone in 1996, forty percent, or about 10 million were 65 or older. .
Klinenberg focuses on four major trends that made these elderly more susceptible to heat related deaths. The first has already been mentioned, the increasing number of elderly living on alone, often times with disabilities which hinder them from participating in many aspects of every day life. The second is the fear of crime present among a great majority of these seniors, some of which withdraw from the outside world because they are afraid of the potential risk of becoming a victim. Another major problem is the transformation of the landscape in many of the neighborhoods that these seniors call home. Many are now void of the public spaces which once encouraged social activity. The final major trend associated with increased vulnerability to heat related death is the tendency for older men, many of whom are single without children and some of which have substance abuse problems, to lose most important parts of their social networks as they age.
African-Americans were also at an increased risk, and when taking into account their relative populations, three blacks died for every two whites. When looking at those over the age of eighty-five the black/white ratio was 1.9 to 1. Of those that were least affected by the heat wave, Chicago's Latino population stands out above all others. Although they made up almost a quarter of the city's total population in 1995, only nine were reported as having symptoms of high heat mortality.
Klinenberg uses a comparison of two adjacent West Side neighborhoods in an attempt to better explain these findings. Separated physically by Cermak Road, North and South Lawndale (which is also known as Little Village) are considered by many to be completely different worlds.
