The role of metropolitan opportunity structures for understanding variation in the rate of Black household affluence

Abstract

This study explores Black household affluence at the metropolitan scale and suggests that metropolitan-level opportunity structures shaped rates of Black affluence for the 100 largest American metropolitan areas in 2000. I hypothesize that affluent black households favored metropolitan areas of opportunity, those places characterized by having (1) economic opportunities, (2) favorable Black–White relational standing, (3) metropolitan diversity and residential opportunities, and (4) their location in the South, which serves as a Black homeplace. Results fail to suggest evidence regarding the role of the ‘new South' for understanding metropolitan-level rates of Black affluence. More generally, findings from this study challenge our understanding of socioeconomic stratification by investigating diversity within America's Black community.

Department(s)

Geography, Geology, and Planning

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2014.900962

Keywords

black household affluence, diversity, economic restructuring, suburbanization, black migration, US South

Publication Date

2014

Journal Title

Urban Geography

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