how does gentrification keep happening if there are less rich people than poor people?
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The rich probably have little to do with gentrification directly. The rich are wealthy enough to live in already established and wealthier neighborhoods.
Gentrification is more typically driven by younger and more upwardly mobile workers who are establishing themselves. Because they lack wealth but have steady incomes, they move into more affordable neighborhoods. These people are consumers and they attract more retail and other businesses. This increases the desirability of the neighborhood and home prices and rents increase.
Although gentrification is portrayed negatively, this is a rather odd viewpoint. Why wouldn’t society broadly benefit from their younger, generally more educated, professional, higher spending group be the economic driver of redevelopment and improvement? It should be somewhat a measure of success that cities and neighborhoods revitalize and become economically significant.
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