A comparative examination of the residential segregation of persons 65 to 74 and persons 75 and above in 18 United States metropolitan areas for 1970 and 1980.

Abstract

Indexes of dissimilarity were calculated for 18 standard metropolitan statistical areas in 1970 and 1980. The indexes measured the level of residential segregation of persons 65 and older, 65 to 74 and 75 and older. Results indicated a significantly higher level of segregation for persons 75 and older than persons 65 to 74 in both 1970 and 1980. The difference in the level of residential segregation between persons 65 to 74 and 75 and older significantly increased from 1970 to 1980. When measured as a single age group aged 65 and above, there was no significant change in the level of residential segregation from 1970 to 1980. This result indicates that failure to disaggregate the elderly population into two distinct age groups would have resulted in missing changes in the level and trend of residential segregation among the elderly population.