THE CHANGING GEOGRAPHY OF METROPOLITAN OPPORTUNITY - THE SEGREGATION OF THE POOR IN US METROPOLITAN-AREAS, 1970 TO 1990

This analysis uses census tract data to measure the segregation of the poor in U.S. metropolitan areas in 1970, 1980, and 1990. Two measures of segregation are used: the indices of dissimilarity and isolation. In 1990 the mean dissimilarity of the poor in the 100 largest U.S, met ropolitan areas was 36.1, which is substantial but below the 60.6 diss imilarity of blacks. The 1990 isolation of the poor was 21.0. From 197 0 to 1990, the dissimilarity of the poor increased by 11 percent, and the isolation of the poor rose by 9 percent; in contrast, racial segre gation declined. Exploratory regression analyses reveal that income se gregation in metropolitan areas was significantly greater in 1990 and increased more from 1970 to 1990 in the Northeast than in the South an d West. Midwest areas generally were not significantly different from Northeast areas in 1990 segregation levels or in changes from 1970 to 1990.