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. 2016 Feb;53(1):139-64.
doi: 10.1007/s13524-015-0447-5.

Still Large, but Narrowing: The Sizable Decline in Racial Neighborhood Inequality in Metropolitan America, 1980-2010

Glenn Firebaugh  1 , Chad R Farrell  2
Affiliations

Still Large, but Narrowing: The Sizable Decline in Racial Neighborhood Inequality in Metropolitan America, 1980-2010

Glenn Firebaugh et al. Demography. 2016 Feb.

Abstract

Although residential segregation is known to have declined for some racial groups in America, much less is known about change in the relative socioeconomic quality of the neighborhoods where different racial and ethnic groups live. Using census data for 1980-2010, we find that the neighborhoods where whites and minorities reside have become more alike in terms of neighborhood poverty and median income, largely because whites now live in poorer neighborhoods and because African Americans live in less-poor neighborhoods. The narrowing of black-white neighborhood inequality since 1980 has been sizable, far exceeding the narrowing of Hispanic-white neighborhood inequality; nonetheless, despite blacks' relative gains, the disparity in black-white neighborhood economic conditions remains very large. Asian Americans, on the other hand, now reside in neighborhoods that are economically similar to the neighborhoods where whites reside. Regression analyses reveal that racial neighborhood inequality declined the most in U.S. metropolitan areas where racial residential segregation declined the most.

Keywords: Concentrated disadvantage; Neighborhood inequality; Neighborhood poverty; Racial inequality; Residential segregation.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Narrowing of poverty-based racial neighborhood inequality in the United States, 1980–2010
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Narrowing of income-based racial neighborhood inequality in the United States, 1980–2010
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Proportion poor in the median neighborhood where whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians live
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Change in black-white, Hispanic-white, and Asian-white neighborhood inequality in the average U.S. metropolitan area, 1980–2010
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Lorenz curves showing little difference in the poverty rates and median incomes of the neighborhoods where Hispanics and blacks live
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Lorenz curves for U.S. metropolitan areas showing black-white and Hispanic-white neighborhood inequality in 2010
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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