Disaggregating Trends in Racial Residential Segregation: Metropolitan, Micropolitan, and Non-Core Counties Compared

Domenico Parisi, Mississippi State University
Daniel T. Lichter, Cornell University
Steven M. Grice, Mississippi State University

Previous research has focused on patterns of segregation in metropolitan cities and suburbs. In this paper, we examine sources of change in residential segregation between and within places in U.S. metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, including micropolitan and non-core counties. We focus on black-white, Hispanic-white, and Hispanic-black trends in segregation using block data from the 1990 and 2000 Census Summary Files. By decomposing segregation into its spatial components, we can determine whether minority populations cluster within places, between places, or across higher-order spatial systems (e.g., metropolitan, nonmetropolitan, micropolitan, or rural areas). Place segregation is measured using the Theil index. Our analysis addresses whether the optimism implied by recent declines in neighborhood segregation in cities must be balanced by increases in segregation at other spatial scales.