Neighborhood Change and Black-White Segregation: 2000-2020

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Open Call Paper Session

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between neighborhood racial change and metropolitan segregation in 2000-2020. The most surprising finding is that the principal source of declining Black-white segregation has been a substantial Black exodus from Black neighborhoods. The same kinds of neighborhoods where Black newcomers were increasingly concentrated in older, poorer sections of central cities in the 1920-1970 decades are now hollowing out, as residents find new opportunities elsewhere. We show that Black growth in white neighborhoods, as well as white exit from other predominantly white neighborhoods are also important sources of segregation decline. At the same time, however, many predominantly Black neighborhoods have growing Black populations, pushing segregation upwards. This pattern was described in the past as “succession” but it is now likely to be found in suburban neighborhoods with newer housing, a smaller Black population share, and higher socioeconomic status compared to other Black neighborhoods. These and other findings shed new light on why segregation is declining and also why it is so persistent, and our taxonomy of kinds of racial changes provides a new tool for studies of segregating processes at the individual level.

Authors

• John R. Logan, Brown University

• Liangdi Xu, Brown University