Residential Segregation and the Spatial Distribution of Socioeconomic Well-Being in Southern New Hampshire, 1990-2000.

Research suggests that residential segregation is the fundamental dynamic by which the vast interracial inequalities extant in American society are perpetuated. Recently, scholars have begun to pay more attention to residential segregation as it exists in suburban and rural areas, and between Whites and all major minority groups (i.e., in addition to African-Americans). Here, I conduct a comparative analysis of one primarily urban and one primarily suburban region in the southern part of New Hampshire, mapping trends in the distribution of minority residents and socioeconomic well-being over the last decade of the 20th century. As the urban center grew and became more diverse, residential segregation appears to have increased, and in 2000 the spatial distribution of unemployment and poverty was highly associated with that of minority residents. In the suburban region, however, growth and increased diversity appears to have been accompanied by a slight shift toward integration. The suburban region appears to have been more segregated with respect to socioeconomic status in 2000 than 1990, though the distribution of disadvantage was not highly associated with that of minority residents at the end of the 20th century. Implications for contemporary ideas of residential segregation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]