Measuring Segregation in New Castle County, Delaware

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of segregation patterns between black and white households in Wilmington, Delaware, and its surrounding suburbs. This research covers three analytical aspects that have been largely ignored in prior research. First, it examines segregation as it exists not only in the city of Wilmington, but throughout the suburbs of New Castle County as well. Second, while past research has utilized the dissimilarity, or unevenness, method of measuring segregation patterns, this paper also employs the exposure method, which determines the degree of interaction that occurs between blacks and whites on a daily basis within geographic areas of the city. Finally, this author addresses the segregation patterns that exist, not only from a racial context but from a poverty perspective as well. The results show that: a) Wilmington seems to have an increasingly integrated black-white population; b) integration within the suburbs has improved considerably during the 20-year period from 1970-90; c) there has been an overall improvement in the degree of interaction among the non-poor and poor; particularly blacks in poverty; and d) while the dissimilarity readings for the Wilmington area have improved dramatically, the exposure measures have improved only slightly, and have followed a more ambiguous path.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew Carswell

Andrew Carswel1, University of Delawar Center for Community Development & Family Policy