Staying or Moving: Racial Differences in Single Mothers’ Residential Stability

Ryan Gabriel (), Peter Polhill and Adrienne Waite
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Ryan Gabriel: Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Peter Polhill: ILR School, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Adrienne Waite: Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: In this study, we investigate the residential stability and mobility patterns of Black single mothers compared to White single mothers. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1970 to 2015, linked to the U.S. Census for contextual characteristics, our multilevel linear probability models reveal substantial racial disparities. Black single mothers have a lower probability of remaining in non-poor neighborhoods rather than migrating to poor neighborhoods relative to White single mothers. Conversely, Black single mothers possess a higher probability of remaining in poor neighborhoods instead of moving to non-poor ones in relation to White single mothers. When economic resources are allowed to vary between Black and White single mothers, even higher-income Black single mothers cannot convert these resources into remaining in or migrating to non-poor neighborhoods at the same rate as White single mothers.

Keywords: Black single mothers; poverty; neighborhoods; mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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