Who Lives in Affluent Suburbs? Racial Differences in Eleven Metropolitan Regions

As the suburbanization of racial and ethnic minorities begins to catch up with that of non-Hispanic whites, the question of which suburbs they enter becomes increasingly important. This study evaluates this issue in terms of the median income of suburbs, a valuable indicator of the quality of a community's residential environment. It compares the places in which whites live to those of blacks, Hispanics and Asians in 11 large metropolitan regions. The residential location process is broadly similar for whites, Asians and Hispanics. Suburbanites of Asian background live in places of equivalent socioeconomic standing as do whites. Though Hispanics live on average in considerably poorer suburbs, this disparity arises almost entirely from this group's lower socioeconomic resources and immigrant origin. The case of blacks is quite distinct. Suburban blacks live in poorer suburbs than whites even after taking into account differences in individuals' income, education and homeownership. This black-white disparity appears in every region studied, offering strong support for the view that suburban housing markets are biased against black residents.