The Measurement of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Characteristics and Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Residential Segregation in Metropolitan Detroit

Abstract

In the United States, past research has shown that Hispanics are less residentially segregated from non-Hispanic Whites than are Blacks. Such research has also shown that like Blacks, Hispanic households are located in poorer neighborhoods than are the average lower-income non-Hispanic White households. However, such studies have been limited for two reasons: (1) they have used a single variable, income, to characterize neighborhoods which is not sufficient to capture the complexity of such areas; and (2) such studies have not focused on Metropolitan Detroit where, unlike in many other large metropolitan areas, the Hispanic population is relatively small and concentrated within a large majority Black central city. This is the first study to examine Hispanic–non-Hispanic White residential segregation and the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods in Metropolitan Detroit using multiple variables to characterize neighborhoods. The Modified Darden-Kamel Composite Socioeconomic Index was used to characterize neighborhoods and the index of dissimilarity was employed to measure Hispanic–non-Hispanic White residential segregation. The results revealed that the level of Hispanic—non-Hispanic White residential segregation was modest, but Hispanics were restricted to neighborhoods that are of lower quality than neighborhoods occupied by non-Hispanic Whites.