Trends and Characteristics of U.S. Metropolitan Neighborhood Integration, 2000–2020

Abstract

In this study, I advance the neighborhood integration literature by detailing a more comprehensive approach to measuring neighborhood integration, accounting for both ethnoracial and socioeconomic diversity and evenness over the years 2000–2020. I document the prevalence and persistence of neighborhood integration, representing one of the first studies to investigate trends over the post-Great Recession decade of 2010–2020. Finally, I compare levels of social capital across integrated and segregated neighborhoods. The results reveal that neighborhood integration has grown steadily and considerably during 2000–2020, although most neighborhoods over this timeframe were persistently segregated. Mean levels of social capital tend to be higher in segregated neighborhoods, though socioeconomically integrated neighborhoods register comparable mean levels of social capital. Overall, the results indicate that to promote further integration and social capital, integrative policies should be targeted toward stubbornly segregated neighborhoods, not just neighborhoods experiencing demographic shifts toward segregation since the former considerably outnumber the latter.