Race, scale, and the concentration of poverty in Columbus, Ohio, 1980 to 1990

Changes in the geographic concentration of poverty emerge from forces that redistribute population across neighborhoods within urban areas and forces that alter the aggregate composition of metropolitan populations. We examin ed the relative importance of these two groups of forces with 1980 and 1990 Census data for the central county of the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area . We decomposed changes in isolation and exposure indices into redistributi onal and compositional components, and examined the influence of race and i ncome on redistribution. The concentration of poverty increased for both Bl acks and Whites, but much more for Blacks. Fortes that redistribute populat ion within urban areas were primarily responsible for a small increase in t he exposure to neighborhood poverty by poor Whites. Spatial redistribution across neighborhoods combined with an increase in poverty at the metropolit an scale to substantially increase exposure to neighborhood poverty among p oor Blacks. Long-distance migration Flays an important yet complex role not previously examined. Contrary to common arguments, neighborhood redistribu tions of Black and White poor worked to reduce neighborhood poverty exposur e, even though the redistribution of the nonpoor resulted in increased neig hborhood poverty exposure for the poor of both races.