Indicator: Neighborhood racial diversity

Definition

The share of an individual’s neighbors who are people of other races and ethnicities.

Recommended Metric(s)

Percentage of an individual’s neighbors who are members of other racial or ethnic groups, calculated as a Neighborhood Exposure Index

Type(s) of Data Needed

Administrative data

Why it matters

Neighborhoods with higher levels of racial segregation tend to have lower levels of upward economic mobility.1 Furthermore, disparities in the academic achievement of students of color and those from low-income households, and White and more affluent students are more pronounced in more racially and economically segregated schools and neighborhoods.2, 3, 4

Despite progress in racial integration over time, many neighborhoods remain segregated. In the period 2014–2018, the average White resident in a metropolitan area lived in a neighborhood where 71 percent of residents were also White, though only 55 percent of the population in metropolitan areas was White.5 Similarly, the average Black and Latino person lived in neighborhoods where most residents were people of color. Increased contact between racial groups is consistently linked with lower levels of prejudice.6

What to know about measurement

The data required to compute this metric are available annually from the American Community Survey (ACS).7 We note that racial and ethnic diversity within schools and institutions should also be measured, as described in the school and workplace diversity indicator under E-W system conditions.

Source frameworks

This indicator appeared in four source frameworks reviewed for this report. Our proposed approach to measuring racial diversity aligns with the work by the Urban Institute and StriveTogether.

References

    • 7

      United States Census Bureau. (2022b). American community survey (ACS). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs

    • 1

      Chetty, R., & Hendren, N. (2018). The impacts of neighborhoods on intergenerational mobility II: County-level estimates. (2018). Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(3), 1163–1228. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjy006 

    • 2

      Rumberger, R. W., & Willms, J. D. (1992). The impact of racial and ethnic segregation on the achievement gap in California high schools. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 14,(4), 377–396. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737014004377 

    • 3

      Card, D., & Rothstein, J. (2007). Racial segregation and the black-white test score gap. Journal of Public Economics, 91(11–12), 2158–2184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2007.03.006 

    • 4

      Reardon, S. F. (2016). School segregation and racial academic achievement. The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2(5), 34–57. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2016.2.5.03 

    • 5

      Frey, W. H. (2020). Even as metropolitan areas diversify, White Americans still live in mostly White neighborhoods. Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/research/even-as-metropolitan-areas-diversify-white-americans-still-live-in-mostly-white-neighborhoods/

    • 6

      Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(5), 751–783. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.751