Relationships between the Growth of Ethnic Groups and Socioeconomic Conditions in US Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

Growth of the three largest US ethnic minorities (Hispanics, blacks, and Asians) is compared against three socioeconomic conditions—income, poverty, and employment—in US metropolitan statistical areas. The literature on the geography of ethnicity, particularly its social and economic findings, needed additional data collection and analysis. Findings from this research demonstrate that the social and economic characteristics of blacks, Hispanics, and Asians differed between central and suburban cities, and were more important descriptors and explanatory factors for socioeconomic changes in central cities than in suburban cities between 1990 and 2000. Growth among blacks and Hispanics, but not Asians, affected socioeconomic changes in those groups in central cities and suburban cities in U.S. metropolitan areas. These findings support the perception of overall improved socioeconomic status in these central and suburban cities for black and Hispanic growth.