Race, class, and place: evaluating mobility outcomes for African Americans

There is an ongoing debate about levels of segregation, their causes, and their long-term direction. The debate is between those who, while acknowledging some role for economic forces, place the emphasis for continuing segregation on discrimination and White prejudice and those who place greater emphasis on income, wealth, and residential preferences. This debate is further illuminated with a detailed analysis of African American suburbanization using a combination of data from the 2000 Census and the Current Population Survey. The analysis confirms other research that shows substantial suburban growth of African American populations. It adds to that research by showing that those African American populations who move to the suburbs have substantially more income and wealth and higher levels of education than African American populations who move within the metropolitan cores. In addition, suburban African Americans live in more integrated settings than those who live in the central city. The implications of this finding bolster the view that income does matter in residential choices for African Americans. Keywords: residential mobility; segregation; suburbanization