Are Military Veterans More Racially Integrated? An Analysis of Homeowners in 98 United States Metro Areas

• In Event: 135 - Section on Sociology of Population Paper Session. Race/Ethnicity and Population Dynamics

Abstract

In stark contrast to civilian society, the U.S. military has evolved to foster greater racial equality and represents a rare racially integrated social institution. Yet it remains unclear whether military veterans are more racially integrated among the civilian population, where they increasingly use their benefits to attain homeownership. In order to ascertain patterns of veteran racial residential segregation, we develop a conceptual framework and leverage data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) on conventional versus Veterans Affairs (VA) mortgages. To test the hypothesis that service in the military and VA mortgages lead to neighborhood integration, we estimate multivariate models of individual-level veteran racial isolation, contact, and diversity using nearly 13 million borrower loans from 2008 to 2013 across 98 metro areas. Our research represents the first and largest study of veteran residential integration among whites, blacks, and Latinos and the first to estimate contextual differences at the metropolitan-level. We find that black and Latino veterans live in significantly less racially isolated neighborhoods and that white veterans live in significantly more diverse neighborhoods. Using data on the local base armed forces branch (e.g., Air Force, Army, Navy, etc.) we find significantly higher integration among veterans versus nonveterans in areas with Army and Navy bases. We also uncover interesting regional differences that vary by race. We discuss the implications for future research on veterans and racial segregation.

Authors

• Jacob S. Rugh, Brigham Young University

• Mary J. Fischer, University of Connecticut