Segregation in the Bay Area: Novel Methods and Fresh Perspectives The Marin Housing Center & Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California 2019 Conference PRESENTER:
DATE:
Stephen Menendian Assistant Director, Haas Institute
04/01/2019
Overview I. Emerging Tools and Measures
II. Measuring Segregation III. Mapping Segregation
New Methods • Hot take: Fair Housing Advocates – lawyers and grassroots orgs – are stuck in a 1960s/70s view of segregation.
• Most of us understand that gentrification and patterns of regional segregation (the “Great Inversion”) are changing our understanding of segregation, but I am talking about something more fundamental. • The research into the causes, effects and consequences of segregation – as well as the very measures we use – are outdated. • In the last few years, there has been a ‘virtual explosion’ of research into the issue of segregation, with new tools and measuring sticks. • I am going to show you these new tools today.
Early Scholarship (Pre-1950)
1st Generation Scholarship on Segregation (1968-1990s)
2nd & 3rd Generation Scholarship
Fresh Perspectives New books have opened larger pathways that motivated scholars to look into segregation more closely. Some perspectives include: •The Color of Law: Segregation’s role in social strife and as a byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels. •Children of the Dream: School integration as an engine of social mobility •Moving Towards Integration: Racial segregation’s resilience even in a diverse society and public policy’s role in achieving housing integration. •The Road to Re-segregation: Suburbanization of poverty, regional planning, urban sprawl, and political fragmentation in Bay Area segregation •Cycle of Segregation: The role of social processes and networks in shaping residential stratification. •Segregation By Design: 100 years of quantitative and qualitative data to explore how local governments generate race and class segregation
Measuring Segregation: The DI • The Dissimilarity Index • By far the most popular measure of segregation – measures “spread” or “evenness.” The dissimilarity index indicates the percentage of a subgroup that would have to move to achieve integration. • A score of 100 indicates that every neighborhood has residents of only one particular group (“complete segregation”), whereas a score of zero indicates proportional representation of each group throughout the metropolitan region (“complete integration”). • Segregation: Our current measure of segregation, 59.0, is considered a very high level of segregation. That means that more than half of African Americans (or whites) would have to move residence to achieve a fully integrated society. • Concentration: Recent data shows that 30 percent of African-Americans live in Census Block Groups that are 75 percent African-American or more. • 75 percent of African-Americans in the country live in only 16 percent of the Census Block Groups in the United States
Dissimilarity Index in the Bay Area
Different Worlds: Exposure Index • The Exposure Index • The Exposure Index and Isolation Index measure the average neighborhood of a member of a racial group. • As 2010, the average white resident of a metropolitan area resides in a neighborhood that is 75.4% white, 7.9% Black, 10.5% Hispanic, and 5.1% Asian In contrast, a typical African-American resident lives in a neighborhood that is 34.8% white, 45.2% Black, 14.8% Hispanic, and 4.3% Asian
• The “exposure” of the average African-American to the majority white population is “35,” a figure that has not improved since 1950.
Isolation Index in the Bay Area
The Divergence Index • Created by Elizabeth Roberto in 2015, this is a new way of calculating segregation, which measures the difference between the overall proportion of a group in a region and the proportion of each group in a local area within that region. •
Unlike many other measures of segregation, the Divergence Index can measure a region’s segregation for multiple racial groups simultaneously
• Whether seen from the regional perspective, the county level or the metropolitan level, the San Francisco Bay Area is simultaneously diverse and starkly segregated. • The diversity of the region masks considerable levels of racial isolation and historical, persistent segregation.
Divergence Index in the Bay Area
Divergence Index in the Bay Area
Mapping Segregation • I have a pet peeves: Racial Demographics DOES NOT equal Racial segregation • Many efforts to map racial segregation are often racial demographic maps rather than illustrating racial segregation itself. • Efforts to map segregation are only able to represent segregation levels for two groups at a time, such as Black-white segregation. • Or they try to overlay diversity with racial concentration.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example
Mapping Segregation Per Se
Mapping Methods • We apply the divergence index, and break index scores into rough tertiles. • For census tracts in the 3 rural counties of Marin, Napa and Sonoma, the segregation classification is calculated by tertiles. • For the other 6 counties, which are more urban and diverse, the thresholds between ‘low’ and ‘moderate,’ and ‘moderate’ and ‘high’ are delineated by a particular divergence index value threshold:. • Divergence index scores >= 0.215 are labeled “Highly segregated” • Values <= 0.1075 are designated “low segregation.” • Values in between are “moderately segregated.” • For each county, we also illuminated tracts that had particularly intense concentrations of racial subgroups.
Racial Residential Segregation in the Bay Area
Marin County Segregation
Napa County Demographics
Solano County Demographics
Sonoma County Demographics
Racial Segregation in the Bay Area • Asians are 26% of the population, but are a majority of the population is 181 census tracts, more than 66% in 50 census tracts, and compose 75% or more in 18 census tracts. • Latinos are 24% of the population, but are 50% or more of the population 143 census tracts, more than 66% of the population in 50 census tracts, and more than 75% of the population in 20 census tracts. • African Americans are just 6% of the population, but are more than 25% of the population in 93 census tracts, more than 40% of the population in 40 census tracts, and more than 50% of the population in 18 census tracts. • African Americans are the most racially concentrated group, with 75% of the Bay Area’s Black residents residing in just 26% of the region’s census tracts.
• These patterns are the byproduct of exclusionary policies and private housing discrimination. The extreme segregation of whites into cities such as Piedmont, Lafayette, Atherton, Menlo Park, and Walnut Creek is the result of processes that also segregate people of color in other places.
African Americans in the Bay Area
African American Demographics Over Time • African Americans moved to the Bay Area during the second wave of the Great Migration (1940-1970) and were sharply restricted to live. • 1/5 of African Americans in the Bay Area are concentrated in highlysegregated Black neighborhoods where they make up at least 20% of the population. • But nearly 40% of African Americans live in neighborhoods that are between 0-5% Black. The remaining 40% live in neighborhoods that are 6-20% Black. • The cities with the highest proportion of African Americans relative to their population in their respective county are: • Alameda County (10.2 percent): Oakland (23.6 percent) • Contra Costa County (7.79 percent): Richmond (20.2 percent) • Marin County (1.68 percent): Sausalito (2.6 percent) • Napa County (2.16 percent): American Canyon (8.0 percent) • San Mateo County (2.24 percent): East Palo Alto (10.69 percent) • Santa Clara County (2.44 percent): Santa Clara (3.4 percent) • Solano County (13.31 percent): Suisun City (20.7 percent) • Sonoma County (1.61 percent): Cotati (2.7 percent)
Asian Americans in the Bay Area
Asian American Demographics Over Time • The Asian-American population in the San Francisco Bay Area has the highest rate of growth of any racial group in recent decades to become one of the largest groups in the region. As of 2010, there were nearly 1.7 million Asians in the Bay Area, constituting nearly 24 percent of the overall population. Asians are the second largest ethno-racial group, and may well become the largest in coming years. • Cities with the highest proportion of Asian Americans in the Bay Area are Milpitas (66.5 percent), Cupertino (66.4 percent), Fremont (57.3 percent), Daly City (56.3 percent) and Union City (53.0 percent). Cities with the highest proportion of Asian Americans relative to their population in their respective county are: • Alameda County (30.0 percent): Fremont (57.3 percent) • Contra Costa County (16.7 percent): Hercules (48.1 percent) • Marin County (6.0 percent): Novato (7.0 percent) • Napa County (8.0 percent): American Canyon (35.1 percent) • San Mateo County (28.2 percent): Daly City (56.3 percent) • Santa Clara County (36.3 percent): Milpitas (66.5 percent) • Solano County (15.6 percent): Vallejo (23.1 percent) • Sonoma County (4.0 percent): Rohnert Park (5.5 percent)
Latinos in the Bay Area
Latinx Demographics Over Time • The Latino population has grown steadily but surely in recent decades, peaking at more than 1.6 million as of 2010, at nearly 25 percent of the regional population. The Latino population grew fastest between 1990 and 2000, at nearly 50 percent growth but has risen at a rate of 42 percent between 2000 and 2010. • Cities with the highest proportion of Latinos in the Bay Area are East Palo Alto (63.2 percent), San Pablo (60.7 percent), Gilroy (60.6 percent), Calistoga (47.5 percent) and Dixon (42.7 percent). The cities with the highest proportion of Latinos relative to their population in their respective county are: • Alameda County (22.5 percent): Hayward (40.4 percent) • Contra Costa County (25.7 percent): San Pablo (60.7 percent) • Marin County (16.1 percent): San Rafael (29.7 percent) • Napa County (34.3 percent): Calistoga (47.5 percent) • San Mateo County (24.5 percent): East Palo Alto (63.2 percent) • Santa Clara County (25.6 percent): Gilroy (60.6 percent) • Solano County (26.5 percent): Dixon (42.7 percent) • Sonoma County (27.0 percent): Healdsburg (33.7 percent)
Whites in the Bay Area
White Demographics Over Time • The white population of the Bay Area was under 4 million as of the 2010 census, at just above 40 percent of the population. The proportion of whites living in the Bay Area has declined in both absolute and relative numbers in recent decades, although the direction has been uneven. • Cities with the highest proportion of whites in the Bay Area are Belvedere (87.6 percent), Sausalito (84.9 percent), Mill Valley (83.4 percent), Sebastopol (83.2 percent) and Yountville (82.2 percent), and the cities with the highest proportion of Asian Americans relative to their population in their respective county are: • Alameda County (30.0 percent): Piedmont (70.3 percent) • Contra Costa County (16.7 percent): Lafayette (76.7 percent) • Marin County (6.0 percent): Belvedere (87.6 percent) • Napa County (8.0 percent): Yountville (82.2 percent) • San Mateo County (28.2 percent): San Carlos (69.8 percent) • Santa Clara County (36.3 percent): Monte Sereno (76.6 percent) • Solano County (15.6 percent): Rio Vista (76.7 percent) • Sonoma County (4.0 percent): Sebastopol (83.2 percent)
Whites are the Most Segregated Group in the Region
• Although whites are just under 40 percent of the population of the Bay Area, 184 census tracts (of 1582) are more than 75 percent white, 359 tracts are more than 66 percent white, and 663 tracts are more than 50 percent white. • This is a byproduct of the segregation of people of color. The more effective whites are at segregating themselves from people of color, the more segregated people of color will be overall. The segregation of non-whites into disproportionately non-white neighborhoods results in whites residing in disproportionately whiter neighborhoods. • Non-white and white segregation are reciprocal; they are flip sides of the same coin. The fact that whites are the most segregated racial group reflects this, but it also suggests that people of color are less segregated from each other than they are from whites.
Challenges in Investigating Demographics of the Bay Area • Understand the paradox of both persistence and change. • Many of the neighborhoods that are most heavily Black are those that were historically permitted for African-American migrants from the South. Yet, there has also been tremendous demographic change • Example: Although African Americans moved into the Fillmore District of San Francisco during and after the Japanese internment, they were pushed out in large numbers during urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s. • The East Bay was a battleground over fair housing ordinances opposed by real estate interests, neighborhood associations, and other organized opposition to Black movers. • And yet, by the 1960s, African Americans successfully settled in places like East Oakland, but were followed by Latino and Asian immigrants, which have continued to change the demography of those communities.
Changes On a County Level • African Americans moving out of historically Black neighborhoods are now moving into far flung areas. • Between 1970 and 2010, more than a million people moved from the western part of the Bay Area to far eastern counties beyond the ninecounty Bay Area region. • This is especially visible at the county level. San Joaquin’s increase in African Americans mirrors the decline in San Francisco. • Alameda County illustrates the basic dynamic of out-migration, displacement, and resettlement within a single county. • The African-American population has declined significantly in the core neighborhoods in Oakland, even as African Americans, through a combination of push and pull, have moved further down into and toward the 580, 680, and 880 triangle. • This shows that African Americans are moving further toward the periphery of the region.
Observations on a County Level • • • •
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Demographic profiles and levels of racial diversity in each of the counties of the Bay Area vary considerably from the region as a whole. Individual county maps illustrate the divergence between census tracts and each county as a whole rather than census tracts and entire region as a whole. 2 forms of segregation in the region: • inter-municipal and intra-municipal. Much of the racial segregation observed in the Bay Area exists between municipal boundaries. • This is the segregation of one group into a particular municipality or maintenance of historically segregated residential patterns has, as a corollary, the segregation of other racial groups into other racially segregated cities. This why, although a majority of the most highly segregated neighborhoods for people of color are found in the largest cities in the region, the most segregated white neighborhoods are in small or mid-sized cities.