The geography of metropolitan opportunity: A case study of neighborhood conditions confronting youth in Washington, DC

Abstract This article uses tabular and mapping presentations of 1990 census tract data to investigate variations in adverse socioeconomic conditions across Washington, DC, neighborhoods. It also examines the levels of exposure of youth of different races or ethnicities to these adverse conditions. Underlying this analysis is the premise that aggregate neighborhood conditions related to poverty and welfare status, educational attainment, out‐of‐wedlock births, employment, drug use, and crime serve as proxies for resident youth's perceptions of the opportunity structure as filtered through the local social network. Empirical analyses show two distinct clusters of indicators that vary consistently across Washington neighborhoods; one is related to socioeconomic status, drug use, and fertility, and the other is related to crime rates. Both sets vary systematically by the racial‐ethnic composition of youth in the neighborhood. Youth in black, female‐headed families are exposed to the most negative neighborhood conditions.