Residential Segregation in Metropolitan Areas since 2000

Ren Farley, University of Michigan

In the past, racial and socioeconomic segregation could be measured only once a decade. The American Community Survey now provides annual estimates of population at the Public Use Micro Data (PUMA) level. In preparation for the release of data at the census tract level in 2010, that source now provides experimental census tract data for several dozen large metropolises. Using PUMA data, this paper considered metropolitan areas of two million or more and tested hypotheses about changes since 2000 in: racial residential segregation, socioeconomic segregation, and the segregation of new immigrants from older immigrants and the native-born population. Census tract data has also been examined to provide information about recent changes in segregation.