title: Quantifying Separate and Unequal: Racial-Ethnic Distributions of Neighborhood Poverty in Metropolitan America.
abstract: Researchers measuring racial inequality of neighborhood environment across metropolitan areas (MAs) have traditionally employed segregation measures, yet such measures are limited for incorporating a third axis of information, including neighborhood opportunity. Using Census 2000 tract-level data for the largest U.S. MAs, we introduce the interquartile-range overlap statistic to summarize the substantial separation of entire distributions of neighborhood environments between racial groups. We find neighborhood poverty distributions for minorities overlap only 27% with those for whites. Further, the separation of racial groups into neighborhoods of differing poverty rates is strongly correlated with racial residential segregation. The overlap statistic provides a straightforward, policy-relevant metric for monitoring progress towards achieving more equal environments of neighborhood opportunity space.
authors.affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar; The University of Michigan; 1214 South University, 2 Floor; Ann Arbor, MI 48104.
authors.forename: Theresa L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Osypuk
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galea
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McArdle
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Acevedo-Garcia