Abstract

This article foregrounds housing in the study of residential segregation. The spatial configuration of housing determines the housing opportunities in each neighborhood, the backdrop against which households' resources, preferences, and constraints play out. I use census and American Community Survey data to provide the first evidence of the extent of housing segregation by type and by cost at multiple geographic scales in large metropolitan areas in the United States from 1990 to 2014. Segregation between single- and multifamily homes and renter- and owner-occupied homes increased in most metropolitan areas, whereas segregation by cost declined. Housing segregation varies among metropolitan areas, across geographic scales, and over time, with consequences for income segregation. Income segregation is markedly higher when and where housing segregation is greater. As long as housing opportunities remain segregated, residential segregation will change little, with urgent implications for urban and housing policy makers.

Highlights

  • This article foregrounds housing in the study of residential segregation

  • Models of residential segregation implicitly or explicitly assume spatial inequality in the housing market, but little empirical evidence demonstrates the degree of housing segregation, how it varies across metropolitan areas, and whether it has changed over time

  • I provide the first estimates of income segregation at multiple geographic scales, showing that about 43 percent of between-neighborhood income segregation occurs between places and 13 percent occurs between cities and their suburbs

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Summary

Introduction

This article foregrounds housing in the study of residential segregation. The spatial configuration of housing determines the housing opportunities in each neighborhood, the backdrop against which households’ resources, preferences, and constraints play out. I use census and American Community Survey data to provide the first evidence of the extent of housing segregation by type and by cost at multiple geographic scales in large metropolitan areas in the United States from 1990 to 2014. Housing segregation varies among metropolitan areas, across geographic scales, and over time, with consequences for income segregation. Residential outcomes are determined by features of households and by features of the housing into which they sort— the segregation of housing by type and by cost across neighborhoods. Models of residential segregation implicitly or explicitly assume spatial inequality in the housing market, but little empirical evidence demonstrates the degree of housing segregation, how it varies across metropolitan areas, and whether it has changed over time. If all neighborhoods had housing with identical costs and features, income inequality’s impact on income segregation would be muted

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