What Drives Racial Segregation? New Evidence Using Census Microdata

Residential segregation on the basis of race is widespread and has important welfare consequences. This paper sheds new light on the forces that drive observed segregation patterns. Making use of restricted micro-Census data from the San Francisco Bay Area and a new measurement framework, it assesses the extent to which the correlation of race with other household characteristics, such as income, education and immigration status, can explain a significant portion of observed racial segregation. In contrast to the findings of the previous literature, which has been hampered by serious data limitations, our analysis indicates that individual household characteristics can explain a considerable fraction of segregation by race. Taken together, we find that the correlation of race with other household attributes can explain almost 95 percent of segregation for Hispanic households, over 50 percent for Asian households, and approximately 30 percent for White and Black households. Our analysis also indicates that different factors drive the segregation of different races. Language explains a substantial proportion - more than 30 percent - of Asian and Hispanic segregation, education explains a further 20 percent of Hispanic segregation, while income is the most important non-race household characteristic for Black households, explaining around 10 percent of Black segregation.