White Residential Segregation Research Articles

What’s in a name? Place misrepresentation and neighbourhood stigma in the online rental market

In this article we examine how the online rental housing market reflects the desirability of different neighbourhoods in St. Louis, MO, a metropolitan area with long-standing high levels of Black–White residential segregation. Using a large digital corpus of advertisements for rental housing, we first show that adverts in neighbourhoods with more Black residents are less likely to list a neighbourhood name than adverts for available housing units in neighbourhoods with more White residents. Advertisements for housing in neighbourhoods with more Black residents are also more likely to list a different, higher-income neighbourhood name than the one in which they are located. Next, using a survey of St. Louis residents, we find that neighbourhoods with more Black residents are perceived as less desirable by both White and Black St. Louisans. We then employ a pair of survey experiments and find that interest in renting a particular housing unit changes if the advert does not list a neighbourhood name or uses a different neighbourhood name than one commonly associated with its location. Altogether, our findings reveal that postings in online housing markets reflect and reproduce existing racial-spatial patterns and may contribute to the avoidance/stigmatisation of certain neighbourhoods.

Multiple measures of structural racism as predictors of U.S. county-level COVID-19 cases and deaths

ABSTRACT Minoritized racial groups in the U.S. have experienced disproportionately higher rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Studies have linked structural racism as a critical factor causing these disproportionate health burdens. We analyse the relationships between county-level COVID-19 cases and deaths and five measures of structural racism on Black Americans: Black–White residential segregation, differences in educational attainment, unemployment, incarceration rates, and health insurance coverage between Black and White Americans. When controlling for socioeconomic, demographic, health and behavioural factors significant relationships were found between all measures of structural racism with cases and/or deaths except Black–White differences in health insurance coverage. Black–White disparities in educational attainment and incarceration were the strongest predictors. The results varied greatly across regions of the U.S. We also found strong relationships between COVID-19 and mobility and the proportion of foreign-born non-citizens. This work supports the important need to confront structural racism on multiple fronts to address health disparities.

Do More-Assimilated Latinxs Leave the Barrio and Move to “White” Neighborhoods? Latinxs, Young Adults, and Spatial Assimilation

Studies of Latinx–white residential segregation and of Latinx residential attainment consistently report findings consistent with spatial assimilation. Nevertheless, most studies of this theory use statistical models that cannot account for multiple dimensions of neighborhoods that may influence residential attainment. In this article, we test predictions of the spatial assimilation model using discrete choice analyses, a multidimensional model. We use data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study on the residential attainment of 1,080 Latinx young adults, most of whom have recently left their parents’ homes. After accounting for the multiple dimensions of neighborhoods, we find little evidence that assimilation from income, generation, or barrio background influences young adult residential attainment. The consequences of language assimilation are modest. However, we find that Latinx young adults with a bachelor’s degree live in “whiter” and “less Latinx” neighborhoods than those without a BA net of these multiple dimensions. The findings suggest that increased assimilation among Latinx young adults is unlikely to improve their residential attainment unless it specifically includes greater education.

The Measurement of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Characteristics and Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Residential Segregation in Metropolitan Detroit

In the United States, past research has shown that Hispanics are less residentially segregated from non-Hispanic Whites than are Blacks. Such research has also shown that like Blacks, Hispanic households are located in poorer neighborhoods than are the average lower-income non-Hispanic White households. However, such studies have been limited for two reasons: (1) they have used a single variable, income, to characterize neighborhoods which is not sufficient to capture the complexity of such areas; and (2) such studies have not focused on Metropolitan Detroit where, unlike in many other large metropolitan areas, the Hispanic population is relatively small and concentrated within a large majority Black central city. This is the first study to examine Hispanic–non-Hispanic White residential segregation and the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods in Metropolitan Detroit using multiple variables to characterize neighborhoods. The Modified Darden-Kamel Composite Socioeconomic Index was used to characterize neighborhoods and the index of dissimilarity was employed to measure Hispanic–non-Hispanic White residential segregation. The results revealed that the level of Hispanic—non-Hispanic White residential segregation was modest, but Hispanics were restricted to neighborhoods that are of lower quality than neighborhoods occupied by non-Hispanic Whites.

Black Women Social Workers in the Great Depression: A Test of Sheltered Labor Market Theory

Sheltered labor market theory proposes that, under favorable public-sector policies, members of an outcast minority group can find relief from discrimination by performing an occupation that delivers social welfare services to a co-ethnic clientele that the majority group seeks to avoid. The present study tests this proposition, examining black women’s employment in social work during the Great Depression. Regression analyses of census data support the theory, suggesting that black women had a sheltered labor market in the social work profession in the North, where official non-discrimination policies in New Deal job creation programs were more scrupulously enforced than in the South. In northern cities, black women’s employment in social work is positively associated with black–white residential segregation as well as with blacks’ employment in public emergency work projects (e.g., the WPA). Thus, consistent with sheltered labor market theory, a minority group’s representation in a social welfare delivery occupation is enhanced by both public-sector economic intervention and the minority’s social and spatial distance from the majority.

Ending to What End? The Impact of the Termination of Court-Desegregation Orders on Residential Segregation and School Dropout Rates

In the early 1990s, the Supreme Court established standards to facilitate the release of school districts from racial desegregation orders. Over the next two decades, federal courts declared almost half of all districts under court order in 1991 to be “unitary”—that is, to have met their obligations to eliminate dual systems of education. I leverage a comprehensive dataset of all districts that were under court order in 1991 to assess the national effects of the termination of desegregation orders on indices of residential-racial segregation and high-school dropout rates. I conclude that the release from court orders moderately increased the short-term rates of Hispanic–White residential segregation. Furthermore, the declaration of districts as unitary increased rates of 16- to 19-year-old school dropouts by around 1 percentage point for Blacks, particularly those residing outside the South, and 3 percentage points for Hispanics.

Remaking white residential segregation: metropolitan diversity and neighborhood change in the United States

ABSTRACTFrom 1990 to 2010, white tracts fell from 82% to 70% of all metropolitan tracts. This loss was concentrated among the most segregated white tracts – those with low diversity. White tracts that were moderately diverse actually doubled in number between 1990 and 2010 although this increase was insufficient to cancel the loss of low diversity white tracts. We model the effects of metropolitan characteristics on white-tract change by metropolitan area. Greater metropolitan-scale diversity increases the probability that low-diversity white tracts transition to moderate-diversity white. Moderately diverse white tracts, however, become more stable with increased diversity. A large metropolitan percentage of blacks or the foreign born reverses this stabilizing effect, increasing the probability that moderately diverse white tracts transition to non-white tracts. Overall, the results suggest a reconfiguration rather than a dissolving of white dominated neighborhood space in response to increased metropolitan area diversity.

Moving for the Kids: Examining the Influence of Children on White Residential Segregation

White households with children are the least likely of all household types to live in integrated neighborhoods, yet few researchers have questioned whether children themselves influence residential decision–making. Children may affect both residential preferences and constraints and in turn, household mobility decisions that shape patterns of segregation and integration. Following a cohort of household heads in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find that white households whose oldest child is younger than six are more likely to move when the percentage of black residents and diversity in their neighborhoods is higher. However, when white households with children do move, they are not more likely than white households without children to move to neighborhoods with fewer blacks or less diversity. Young children may matter for segregation because they influence families to leave more diverse neighborhoods, and white movers generally move into neighborhoods with less diversity, whether or not they have children.

Do Homeowners Associations Affect Citywide Segregation? Evidence From Florida Municipalities

Homeowners associations (HOAs) have become one of the most popular housing options, offering residents supplemental services, amenities, as well as exclusivity and protection. HOAs are touted for their potential to improve the match between household preferences and local services, but denounced for, among other things, their tendency to facilitate residential segregation. Yet, despite growing claims, these propositions have not been rigorously tested. The expectation is that if households do sort into HOAs based on income or race/ethnicity, then these associations can affect segregation by encouraging exclusive and homogeneous living environments. However, HOAs may actually offer a unique vehicle for racial and/or economic mixing or, at the other extreme, they may not influence segregation if residents do not rely on HOAs to sort along racial or economic lines. Unlike previous studies, the current analysis observes jurisdictions over multiple decades in an attempt to better identify whether the growth in HOAs is driving changes in segregation. Using a unique, longitudinal database of HOAs in Florida and multiple measures of segregation, this article tests the effect of HOAs on jurisdiction racial/ethnic and economic segregation. Results from both ordinary least squares and instrumental variable regressions indicate that an increase in HOA presence exacerbates black–white and Hispanic–white residential segregation. Any segregation, however, is tempered by the concentration of HOA units in larger communities. On the contrary, there is no significant effect on income segregation; this suggests that HOAs do not intensify existing tendencies toward income sorting.

White Residential Segregation in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: Conceptual Issues, Patterns, and Trends from the U.S. Census, 1980 to 2010

Racial and ethnic diversity continues to spread to communities across the United States. Rather than focus on the residential patterns of specific minority or immigrant groups, this study examines changing patterns of white residential segregation in metropolitan America. Using data from the 1980 to 2010 decennial censuses, we calculate levels of white segregation using two common measures, analyze the effect of defining the white population in different ways, and, drawing upon the group threat theoretical perspective, we examine the metropolitan correlates of white segregation. We find that white segregation from others declined significantly from 1980 to 2010, regardless of the measure of segregation or the white population used. However, we find some evidence consistent with the group threat perspective, as white dissimilarity is higher in metro areas that are more diverse, and especially those with larger black populations. Nevertheless, our findings indicate that whites having been living in increasingly integrated neighborhoods over the last few decades, suggesting some easing of the historical color line.

The Measurement of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Characteristics and Black and White Residential Segregation in Metropolitan Detroit: Implications for the Study of Social Disparities in Health

Research has suggested that the pattern of residence (integration or segregation) alone is insufficient to explain health disparities by race. Socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods where blacks and whites reside must also be considered to explain health disparities. This article has three aims: (1) to describe the component socioeconomic characteristics of census tracts (neighborhoods) of residence in metropolitan Detroit in 2000 for three indexes of socioeconomic position (SEP); (2) to assess the concordance of the three indexes of SEP of census tracts (neighborhoods) categorized into quintiles based on metropolitan Detroit census data in 2000; and (3) to compare the extent to which black–white residential segregation is revealed by SEP of neighborhoods in metropolitan Detroit. Census data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (SF3) were used to define three indexes of SEP of neighborhoods, the modified Darden/Kamel Composite Socioeconomic Index, the modified Krieger Composite Deprivation Index, and an index of percentage poverty. Residential segregation was measured using the index of dissimilarity. The three indexes similarly captured variability in neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics. Further, sharp geographic inequality was revealed by race and socioeconomic status in the Detroit metropolitan area. The social and spatial structure created by the indexes will help researchers and policymakers better understand the effects of racial and socioeconomic characteristics as well as racial residential segregation on the complex factors related to social disparities in health by race.

Residential segregation in new Hispanic destinations: Cities, suburbs, and rural communities compared

This paper provides new estimates of Hispanic–white residential segregation in new destinations and established Hispanic places. New Hispanic destinations are defined broadly to include metropolitan cities, suburban places, and rural communities with unusually rapid Hispanic growth rates. The analysis is framed with the spatial assimilation and place stratification perspectives and is based on block data from the 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses. The analysis confirms our basic hypothesis – that Hispanics are highly segregated in new Hispanic destinations, often at levels greatly exceeding those in established places. Hispanic suburbanization or exurbanization into new destinations is no marker of spatial assimilation. Consistent with the place stratification perspective, differences in Hispanic–white segregation between new destinations and established Hispanic areas cannot be explained by place-to-place differences in ecological location, population composition, economic growth, employment, or Hispanic–white income inequality. Hispanic segregation in new destinations is especially sensitive to the size of the foreign-born population and to preexisting “minority threats” in communities with large black populations. Segregation levels in new destinations also are less responsive to income disparities between Hispanics and whites; economic assimilation does not insure Hispanic spatial assimilation. Understanding how newcomers are spatially incorporated in new destinations will be a continuing challenge for scholars concerned about the spatial diffusion and apparent geographic balkanization of America’s growing Hispanic population.

Urban Inequality and Racial Differences in Risk for Violent Victimization

Past research has shown that racial inequality in urban areas—Black and White residential segregation and economic inequality—is associated with increased levels of homicide offending and that victimization among Blacks yet serves as a protection mechanism against such violence among Whites. However, few studies have considered alternative measures of violence, namely nonfatal violent victimization in the study of racial inequality in urban areas. This oversight is problematic, given that although some scholars suggest that homicide is a reliable indicator of all forms of violence in general, victimization reports often point to qualitative differences in lethal and nonlethal forms of violence. Consequently, this research examines the link between city-level White and Black residential segregation and economic inequality and individual risks for nonfatal violent victimization net of individual-level factors that have also been associated with such risks. The data are disaggregated by race, because White and Black residential segregation and economic inequality are believed to have disparate effects on non-Hispanic Whites’ and non-Hispanic Blacks’ risks. Overall, the findings indicate that both forms of racial inequality function to protect Whites from nonfatal violent victimization but concomitantly increase such risks among Blacks. The implications of these findings and areas of future research are also discussed.

Tiebout choice and residential segregation by race in US metropolitan areas, 1980–2000

This article examines the link between local government fragmentation, or “Tiebout choice,” and segregation between black and white residents. As suggested by Tiebout [Tiebout, C., 1956. A pure theory of local public expenditures. Journal of Political Economy 64, 416–424.], fragmented local governance structures may encourage households to vote with their feet and sort into communities based on their willingness to pay for local public services. This outcome has been well documented. The nuance explored here is that, if the demand for local public services varies by race or if households have preferences for neighbors with specific racial characteristics, local government fragmentation may foster an increase in residential segregation by race across neighborhoods and jurisdictions. Results from metropolitan-level regressions suggest that increased Tiebout choice is associated with increases in black–white residential segregation within US metropolitan areas. Comparable results are obtained from household-level estimates, where the black racial composition of a household's census tract of residence is regressed on household-level controls and racially stratified measures of Tiebout choice. Results from both approaches suggest that a 10% increase in Tiebout choice would increase neighborhood segregation by no more than 1%, while segregation across jurisdictions would increase by between 4% and 7%.

Why Is Black–White Residential Segregation So Persistent?: Evidence on Three Theories from Migration Data

This article examines the patterns of residential mobility by Whites and African Americans that contribute to continued high levels of Black–White residential segregation in American cities. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics matched with data from the decennial censuses, patterns of migration are described, modeled as a function of individual characteristics, and then used to project changes in spatial segregation that would result from hypothetical alterations in the individual characteristics of the Black and White populations. The results suggest that White avoidance of predominately Black and racially mixed neighborhoods is a very important process upholding segregation. White probabilities of moving among neighborhood types are only weakly influenced by individual characteristics, including income; Black probabilities are more strongly influenced by individual characteristics. Black moves into White neighborhoods are less frequent than White moves, but are not extremely infrequent. The article concludes that efforts to curtail segregation must consider White avoidance in addition to discrimination in housing markets.