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Comparative Study
. 2016 Nov 22;113(47):13372-13377.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1607220113. Epub 2016 Nov 7.

For blacks in America, the gap in neighborhood poverty has declined faster than segregation

Glenn Firebaugh  1 , Francesco Acciai  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

For blacks in America, the gap in neighborhood poverty has declined faster than segregation

Glenn Firebaugh et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Black residential segregation has been declining in the United States. That accomplishment rings hollow, however, if blacks continue to live in much poorer neighborhoods than other Americans. This study uses census data for all US metropolitan areas in 1980 and 2010 to compare decline in the neighborhood poverty gap between blacks and other Americans with decline in the residential segregation of blacks. We find that both declines resulted primarily from narrowing differences between blacks and whites as opposed to narrowing differences between blacks and Hispanics or blacks and Asians. Because black-white differences in neighborhood poverty declined much faster than black-white segregation, the neighborhood poverty disadvantage of blacks declined faster than black segregation-a noteworthy finding because the narrowing of the racial gap in neighborhood poverty for blacks has gone largely unnoticed. Further analysis reveals that the narrowing of the gap was produced by change in both the medians and shapes of the distribution of poverty across the neighborhoods where blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians reside.

Keywords: Gini index; neighborhood poverty; racial inequality; residential segregation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Lorenz curve showing black neighborhood disadvantage in 1980.
Fig. S1.
Fig. S1.
Components of black neighborhood disadvantage: Lorenz curves showing black disadvantage relative to whites, Hispanics, and Asians in 1980.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Lorenz curves showing decline in black neighborhood segregation from 1980 to 2010.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Decline in black segregation versus decline in black neighborhood disadvantage (that is, inequality) from 1980 to 2010.
Fig. S2.
Fig. S2.
Decline in black segregation versus decline in black neighborhood disadvantage from 1980 to 2010, by region.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Distribution of neighborhood poverty rates in 1980 and 2010: blacks versus whites.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Distribution of neighborhood poverty rates in 1980 and 2010: blacks versus Hispanics.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
Distribution of neighborhood poverty rates in 1980 and 2010: blacks versus Asians.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Firebaugh G, Farrell CR. Still large, but narrowing: The sizable decline in racial neighborhood inequality in metropolitan America, 1980-2010. Demography. 2016;53(1):139–164. - PMC - PubMed
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