City Effects on Socioeconomic Achievements: The Case of Large Cities

Community context is examined as having a possible causal influence on an individual's occupational status attainment and income. Additive city effects, between-city differences in mean achievement levels, and nonadditive city effects, between-city differences in how important determinants influence these achievements, are examined. The data used represent probability samples from fifteen of the largest U.S. cities. Contrary to evidence from past research, neither additive nor nonadditive city effects are found for occupational attainment. For income, nonadditive effects are not observed; the rather weak additive effects found are further reduced in magnitude when cost of living differences are controlled for. These findings for nonadditivity are interpreted to mean that across large U.S. communities the processes whereby socioeconomic statuses are achieved are homogeneous. Finding no additive effects indicates the relative unimportance of city contextual differences, but also suggests for occupational attainment, the importance of various equilibrating processes operating to match city population compositions with city opportunity structures.