The Brookings Institution released a report that examines patterns of continuing racial segregation throughout the country. In every major metropolitan area, white Americans continue to reside in mostly white neighborhoods, even as the nation becomes more racially and ethnically diverse.
The author analyzed five-year (2014–2018) American Community Survey data to assess changes in the racial and ethnic composition of neighborhoods since 2000. Between 2000 and 2018, the U.S. became more racially diverse: taken collectively, Latino or Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Black Americans, Native Americans, and multiracial people increased by 51%, while the white population increased by 1%. In the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, the white share of the population decreased from 64% to 55%.
The neighborhoods in which people live, however, do not fully reflect this growing racial diversity. In 2000, the average white resident lived in a neighborhood that was 79% white. In 2018, the average white resident lived in a neighborhood that was 71% white. In every large metro area with more than one million people, the average white resident’s neighborhood had a higher share of whites than the metro areas as a whole. When the average white residents’ neighborhoods became more racially diverse, they were more likely to see an increase in Latinos/Hispanics, Asians, or multiracial people than to see an increase in Black residents.
The Black share of the overall population remained constant between 2000 and 2018. The average Black-resident neighborhood became more racially diverse during that time, which is explained by increases in the Hispanic and Asian American populations. The increase of the white share in these neighborhoods was minimal.
The author applied a segregation (or dissimilarity) index to examine patterns of racial segregation in these metro areas. A segregation index ranges from 0 (complete integration) to 100 (complete segregation). The value represents what percentage of one group would need to relocate to be distributed across neighborhoods equally with the other group. For instance, the Black-white segregation index in Milwaukee is 79, indicating that 79% of Blacks would need to change neighborhoods for Blacks and whites to be fully integrated. Many metro areas in the South and West have Black-white segregation index values below 60, while many metro areas in the north remain in the 70s. Hispanic-white index values are lower, ranging from 31 in Jacksonville to 61 in Los Angeles.
The report can be accessed at: https://brook.gs/3bjSNUv