For blacks in America, the gap in neighborhood poverty has declined faster than segregation

Abstract

Black residential segregation has been declining in the United States. That accomplishment rings hollow, however, if blacks continue to live in much poorer neighborhoods than other Americans. This study uses census data for all US metropolitan areas in 1980 and 2010 to compare decline in the neighborhood poverty gap between blacks and other Americans with decline in the residential segregation of blacks. We find that both declines resulted primarily from narrowing differences between blacks and whites as opposed to narrowing differences between blacks and Hispanics or blacks and Asians. Because black–white differences in neighborhood poverty declined much faster than black–white segregation, the neighborhood poverty disadvantage of blacks declined faster than black segregation—a noteworthy finding because the narrowing of the racial gap in neighborhood poverty for blacks has gone largely unnoticed. Further analysis reveals that the narrowing of the gap was produced by change in both the medians and shapes of the distribution of poverty across the neighborhoods where blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians reside. Significance Racial inequality in America persists in part because of racial differences in exposure to adverse neighborhood environments. Blacks in particular are significantly more likely than other Americans to live in high-poverty neighborhoods—neighborhoods characterized by poor schools and limited access to healthcare, jobs, and beneficial social networks—resulting in inequality of opportunity, as life chances are diminished for residents of such neighborhoods. In addition, the greater exposure to crime, noise, and congestion implies a lower quality of life, on average, for black Americans. Because black neighborhood disadvantage results in inequality of life chances based on race, it is important to determine the direction, pace, and sources of change in black–nonblack differences in neighborhood poverty in America.