Pace and Trajectory of Immigrants toward Homeownership: Variable Rates of Translating Human Capital into Residential Integration from 1970 to 2000

Dowell Myers, University of Southern California
Zhou Yu, University of Utah
Michael Haan, University of Alberta

Homeownership is a principal indicator of achievement and integration for immigrants in the U.S., and this depends on their progress in education, English proficiency, and income, as their duration in the U.S. grows longer. The pace of advancement has varied across arrival cohorts, and immigrant groups are also different in their propensity of converting human capital to residential achievement. This study will use IPUMS microdata to track immigrant cohorts of ethnic Mexicans, Chinese, and Koreans, measuring their pace of change on different dimensions of human capital and economic achievement, and examining how their ability to translate these factors into residential integration has changed from 1970 to 2000. We also examine why Mexicans are so much more successful in becoming homeowners than their low levels of human capital would predict. The variable propensity to convert human capital into residential outcomes is a critical yet largely overlooked measure of the assimilation process.