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The structure and growth of ethnic neighborhoods

Tianran Dai and Nathan Schiff

Journal of Urban Economics, 2023, vol. 137, issue C

Abstract: We introduce a new statistical definition of an immigrant ethnic neighborhood based on a choice model and using the location distribution of natives as a benchmark. We then examine the characteristics of ethnic neighborhoods in the United States using decadal census tract data from 1970 to 2010. We estimate that 43% of the foreign-born population lived in ethnic neighborhoods in 1970, increasing to 67% by 2010. Ethnic neighborhoods have lower average incomes and housing values, and a higher percentage of residents living in rental housing and commuting without a car, than other locations in the city where the same group lives. Neighborhoods vary greatly in size and the population distribution across neighborhoods within a group follows a power law. Most neighborhoods disappear within one or two decades but larger neighborhoods persist longer. Large neighborhoods have a well-defined spatial structure with negative population gradients from the center of the neighborhood and grow primarily through spatial expansion into adjacent locations.

Keywords: Neighborhoods; Ethnic enclave; Concentration metrics; Housing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 R23 R30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: The Structure and Growth of Ethnic Neighborhoods (2021) Downloads
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juecon:v:137:y:2023:i:c:s0094119023000396

DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2023.103570

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