The National Rise in Residential Segregation

TLDR

The authors develop a novel segregation metric based on racial similarity between adjacent households. The metric is derived from complete census manuscript files. The metric reveals that national segregation doubled between 1880 and 1940, that Southern urban areas were the most segregated and remained so, and that segregation growth was driven by household‑level racial sorting rather than urbanization, migration, or white flight, with increases observed across all regions and settings.

Abstract

Exploiting complete census manuscript files, we derive a new segregation measure using the racial similarity of next-door neighbors. The fineness of our measure reveals new facts not captured by traditional segregation indices. First, segregation doubled nationally from 1880 to 1940. Second, contrary to prior estimates, Southern urban areas were the most segregated in the country and remained so over time. Third, increasing segregation in the twentieth century was not strictly driven by urbanization, black migration, or white flight: it resulted from increasing racial sorting at the household level. In all areas—North and South, urban and rural—segregation increased dramatically.