Neighborhood Racial Status and White Out-Mobility

Shih-Keng Yen and Ernesto F. L. Amaral

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: Drawing on American Community Survey data, this study examines how whites’ relative socioeconomic standing vis-à-vis nonwhite neighbors affects the association between minority presence and white out-mobility. Moving beyond the racial preferences versus racial proxy debate, we integrate group competition and contact theories with status theory to conceptualize “racial status” as whites’ first-order income rank relative to the subgroup status of Black, Hispanic, and Asian residents at the census tract level. Multilevel linear probability models show that whites lacking advantaged status are generally more likely to move. However, the positive association between Black or Asian concentration and white departure is weaker among status-disadvantaged whites, while the negative association with Hispanic concentration is stronger. These patterns lend greater support to contact theory than to group competition theory. By foregrounding relative status, the study demonstrates that racial and socioeconomic mechanisms are intertwined in shaping white residential mobility.

Keywords: White out-mobility; racial status; residential segregation; group competition and contact theory; neighborhood racial composition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 J15 J61 R23 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac, nep-mid and nep-mig
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https://www2.census.gov/library/working-papers/2026/adrm/ces/CES-WP-26-19.pdf First version, 2026 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:26-19

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