TY - JOUR
T1 - Still Large, but Narrowing
T2 - The Sizable Decline in Racial Neighborhood Inequality in Metropolitan America, 1980–2010
AU - Firebaugh, Glenn
AU - Farrell, Chad R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by NSF grant BCS 12-60362 as well as by funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Population Research Institute at The Pennsylvania State University for Population Research Infrastructure (R24HD041025). Earlier versions of this article were presented at the University of Wisconsin, November 2012; and at the University of Chicago, February 2013, at a conference on inequality and segregation sponsored by the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group. We especially thank Stephen Durlauf, John Iceland, Barrett Lee, and the Demography reviewers for helpful comments and encouragement.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by NSF grant BCS 12-60362 as well as by funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Population Research Institute at The Pennsylvania State University for Population Research Infrastructure (R24HD041025). Earlier versions of this article were presented at the University of Wisconsin, November 2012; and at the University of Chicago, February 2013, at a conference on inequality and segregation sponsored by the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group. We especially thank Stephen Durlauf, John Iceland, Barrett Lee, and the Demography reviewers for helpful comments and encouragement.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, The Author(s).
PY - 2016/2/1
Y1 - 2016/2/1
N2 - Although residential segregation is known to have declined for some racial groups in America, much less is known about change in the relative socioeconomic quality of the neighborhoods where different racial and ethnic groups live. Using census data for 1980–2010, we find that the neighborhoods where whites and minorities reside have become more alike in terms of neighborhood poverty and median income, largely because whites now live in poorer neighborhoods and because African Americans live in less-poor neighborhoods. The narrowing of black-white neighborhood inequality since 1980 has been sizable, far exceeding the narrowing of Hispanic-white neighborhood inequality; nonetheless, despite blacks’ relative gains, the disparity in black-white neighborhood economic conditions remains very large. Asian Americans, on the other hand, now reside in neighborhoods that are economically similar to the neighborhoods where whites reside. Regression analyses reveal that racial neighborhood inequality declined the most in U.S. metropolitan areas where racial residential segregation declined the most.
AB - Although residential segregation is known to have declined for some racial groups in America, much less is known about change in the relative socioeconomic quality of the neighborhoods where different racial and ethnic groups live. Using census data for 1980–2010, we find that the neighborhoods where whites and minorities reside have become more alike in terms of neighborhood poverty and median income, largely because whites now live in poorer neighborhoods and because African Americans live in less-poor neighborhoods. The narrowing of black-white neighborhood inequality since 1980 has been sizable, far exceeding the narrowing of Hispanic-white neighborhood inequality; nonetheless, despite blacks’ relative gains, the disparity in black-white neighborhood economic conditions remains very large. Asian Americans, on the other hand, now reside in neighborhoods that are economically similar to the neighborhoods where whites reside. Regression analyses reveal that racial neighborhood inequality declined the most in U.S. metropolitan areas where racial residential segregation declined the most.
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U2 - 10.1007/s13524-015-0447-5
DO - 10.1007/s13524-015-0447-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 26685905
AN - SCOPUS:84957843553
VL - 53
SP - 139
EP - 164
JO - Demography
JF - Demography
SN - 0070-3370
IS - 1
ER -