Discovering Stable Racial Integration

ABSTRACT:

This article develops and tests two alternative methods for measuring stable racial integration. One method is based on the use of a comparative standard in which the racial composition of tracts is judged relative to the racial proportions of the county. The second method is based on the comparison of actual to expected in-movers to a tract, by race, where the expected number of in-movers is determined by housing costs and the distribution of each racial group among the income classes that can afford this housing. The methods are then applied to census tracts in 26 metropolitan counties of Florida, 1980–1990. Of the initial 1,637 tracts, 13 are identified as stably integrated by race using both methods jointly. Tests for alternative hypotheses—that the tracts are internally segregated and that they represent suburban black to white transitional tracts—are performed. The results show that these tracts are indeed integrated by race, although not necessarily by income.