Race, Class, and Space: Outcomes of Suburban Access for Asians and Hispanics

Abstract

U.S. metropolitan areas have undergone major changes in their ethnic and racial composition in the past two decades. Now many large metropolitan areas are a complex mix of races and ethnicities, including large numbers of Asian and Hispanic populations in addition to African Americans. Moreover, these new arrivals are often in the suburbs as well as the centers of U.S. metropolitan areas. In the context of the changing ethnic patterns of Asians and Hispanics, three questions are posed for the analysis. Is there substantial suburbanization of Asian and Hispanic ethnic minorities, are those households in suburban locations more integrated with the majority White population, and do those who make the moves to suburban communities have higher status? They are important questions because they speak to the continuing evolution of assimilation and ethnic accommodation. The research provides evidence that suburban Asian and Hispanic populations do have higher socioeconomic status and that in general they are translating that increase in socioeconomic status into greater integration in the suburbs. The evidence from this analysis supports the notion that increased integration is an outcome of socioeconomic status and of suburbanization. However, it is also clear that the outcomes vary by metropolitan context and those outcomes suggest much greater mixing in California than in the United States as a whole.