The Concentration of Liquor Outlets in an Economically Disadvantaged City in the Northeastern United States

Abstract

This study reports data from a mapping analysis designed to assess the extent to which liquor outlets concentrate in certain neighborhoods within one economically disadvantaged midsized city in New Jersey. Four neighborhoods, which occupy one-quarter of the residential land mass of the city and which are home to one-quarter of its population, were found to contain over half of its retail liquor outlets. Three of these neighborhoods are very poor and have large minority populations. The neighborhood with the highest concentration of outlets, however, has one of the lowest levels of poverty in the city and is ethnically quite diverse.

Key Words:

• Liquor outlet distribution
• Poverty
• Ethnicity