Metropolitan Structure and Neighborhood Attainment: Exploring Inter-Metropolitan Variation in Racial Residential Segregation

Jeremy Pais, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)
Scott J. South, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)

Using data from the 1981, 1991, and 2001 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, in conjunction with decennial census data for tracts and metropolitan areas, we examine how ecological and demographic characteristics of metropolitan areas are associated with black and white households’ neighborhood racial composition. Results from hierarchical linear models show that about 20-40% of the variation in the percentage of households’ tract population that is non-Hispanic white or non-Hispanic black exists across, rather than within, metropolitan areas. In large metropolitan areas and areas with greater concentrations of blacks, blacks and whites have fewer white neighbors and more black neighbors. In metropolitan areas with large foreign-born populations, blacks have fewer non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black neighbors. In metropolitan areas characterized by ample supplies of new housing and low levels of municipal fragmentation, whites have comparatively more minority neighbors.