The Relative Importance of Income and Race in Determining Residential Outcomes in U.S. Urban Areas, 1970-2000

The author uses the unique properties of the entropy index to explore trends in segregation by race/ethnicity and income class for families from 1970 to 2000. Declines in segregation by race and increases in segregation by income class were found until the 1990s, when segregation by income declined. Segregation among certain subgroups was then examined; some groups remain more segregated, even as segregation in general has declined. In particular, the poor families experience greater segregation from others than do families in other income groups from each other. Blacks experience higher levels of segregation from other groups than those other groups do from each other. Finally, the segregation of poor, black families compared to the poor of other race/ethnic groups was examined. The author finds that poor black families are uniquely segregated and that this segregation declines only slightly with time.