Hispanics in Metropolitan America: New Realities and Old Debates

Abstract

Since 1980, Latinos have participated in an unprecedented geographic dispersal that altered the ethno-racial contours of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas throughout the nation. After summarizing recent trends in spatial distribution, we review scholarship about trends in residential segregation, the rise of multiethnic neighborhoods, and residential mobility. New trends, notably the emergence of hypersegregation and rising segregation levels in several places, call into question earlier views about the inevitability of Hispanics' spatial assimilation, as do studies that examine direct links between individual mobility and locational attainment. The growing support for the tenets of the place stratification model suggests that Hispanic origin is becoming a racial marker. Following a brief review of social and economic correlates of Hispanics' residential makeover, we conclude by discussing opportunities for future research, emphasizing the importance of dynamic assessments that consider the new contours of racialization in the context of multiethnic places.