Locational Attainment in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Melissa Scopilliti, University of Maryland
John Iceland, Pennsylvania State University

Immigration from Asia and Latin America has fueled recent growth in the minority population in the United States. As of 2000, 31 percent of the population was of a group other than non-Hispanic White, up from nearly 25 percent a decade earlier (U.S. Census Bureau 1990, 2000). The influx of immigrants, particularly to metropolitan areas, has changed the demographics of America’s neighborhoods. Using data from Census 2000, this project examines the relationship between individual race/ethnicity, nativity, and human capital characteristics with levels of neighborhood economic advantage. Often termed residential or locational attainment, this project examines the effectiveness of spatial assimilation and place stratification theories for understanding racial and ethnic stratification across metropolitan neighborhoods.