Neighborhood opportunity structures of immigrant populations, 1980 and 1990

Several emergent theories assert that neighborhood affects immigrants' soci oeconomic advancement. This study analyzes a range of demographic and socio economic indicators for immigrants' census tracts, summarized as exposure i ndices. Indicators are based on 1980 and 1990 census tract information for five major metropolitan areas. Seventeen immigrant groups are examined and contrasted with; general populations distinguished by race/ethnicity. Few general conclusions can be made about the "typical immigrant neighborho od." Most immigrants (especially whites) are highly spatially assimilated. Different immigrant groups often share the same census tracts in substantia l numbers. There is considerable diversity among groups in their propensity to reside in central cities. White immigrant groups evince advantageous ne ighborhood socioeconomic indicators. With one exception, no immigrant group in any metropolitan area studied has such disadvantageous neighborhood ind icators as black households, on average. These findings dispel any vestiges of the myth of the "immigrant ghetto" that might be generalized across imm igrant groups or metropolitan areas.