Contributors to concentrated poverty of Blacks and Hispanics in metropolitan America, 1980-2020

A longstanding debate asks why African Americans have been disproportionately concentrated in poor neighborhoods. All sides agree that a key contributor is the high level of poverty among Blacks, but they differ on other sources. Has the exodus of a growing Black middle class from the inner city (raising income segregation among Blacks) left the Black poor more isolated? Does persistent high racial segregation hold both middle class and poor Blacks in neighborhoods that are depressed by the high rate of Black poverty? Is poverty in Black neighborhoods mainly due to the presence of poor Black households or poor non-Black neighbors? This study addresses these questions with data for 1980-2020, and extends the analysis also to the case of Hispanic poverty exposure. Longitudinal models and detailed analysis of neighborhood composition by race and income show that the group's own income composition is the most important predictor of poverty exposure. This effect is compounded by high racial segregation. Within-group income segregation adds to poverty concentration for Blacks but not for Hispanics. Blacks and Hispanics of all income levels live in poorer neighborhoods mainly because of the large share of their Black and Hispanic low-income neighbors, while their white neighbors tend to have higher incomes than they do.