Residential Segregation - Black/White in United States

United States

Racial residential segregation is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “the physical separation of races in residential settings [that] serves as a proxy for structural racism due to the systematic disinvestment of neighborhoods among historically marginalized groups that occurs along with segregation. Racial residential segregation and its systematic disinvestments have negative economic, educational, employment, and environmental consequences that lead to systematic discrimination in housing and lending and ultimately affect downstream health outcomes.”

Segregation creates areas of concentrated exposure to social and physical hazards — such as increased pollutants — that harm health. Furthermore, it restricts socioeconomic mobility, affecting equitable proximity and access to quality schools, good jobs and healthy food and leading to disparities in health outcomes.

Black communities in the U.S. are more likely than Hispanic or Asian communities to be segregated from white communities; relative to British rates of Black segregation, Black Americans face three times the rate of segregation. Black males especially experience larger disparities in social class as segregation rates increase.

Additionally, research has found that white households with children experience higher levels of racial segregation than white households overall.

While the root causes of racial segregation run deep and complex, some immediate strategies to reduce segregation and its impact include:

• Promoting racial equity in housing and community development by integrating equitable practices for transparency, community engagement and collaborative planning into affordable housing strategies such as housing choice voucher programs.
• Removing zoning laws. Single-family zoning laws create and reinforce segregation.
• Improving public transit safety and accessibility. Public transit safety and accessibility are lower in segregated neighborhoods, and many segregated communities are divided by highway systems, limiting mobility. 
• Establishing affordable housing options for segregated communities throughout metropolitan areas. 
• Implementing place-based special purpose credit programs that enable banks to extend favorable credit to economically disadvantaged borrowers with common characteristics (the special purpose), such as race or income, in distinct geographic areas. 
• Supporting fund shared equity homeownership programs, which control the resale price of affordable housing each time it is sold to maintain housing affordability in a community.

Healthy People 2030 cites residential segregation as an example of structural discrimination. Discrimination is a key issue in the Social and Community Context domain.

Downey, Liam, and Brian Hawkins. “Race, Income, and Environmental Inequality in the United States.” Sociological Perspectives 51, no. 4 (December 2008): 759–81. https://doi.org/10.1525/sop.2008.51.4.759.

Iceland, John, Kimberly A. Goyette, Kyle Anne Nelson, and Chaowen Chan. “Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation and Household Structure: A Research Note.” Social Science Research 39, no. 1 (January 2010): 39–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2009.06.006.

Massey, Douglas S. “Residential Segregation and Neighborhood Conditions in U.S. Metropolitan Areas.” In America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences, Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2001. https://doi.org/10.17226/9599.

Steil, Justin, and Mariana Arcaya. “Residential Segregation And Health: History, Harms, And Next Steps.” Health Affairs Health Policy Brief. Washington, D.C.: Health Affairs, April 27, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1377/hpb20230321.580719.

Steil, Justin, and Michael Lens. “Public Policies To Address Residential Segregation And Improve Health.” Health Affairs Health Policy Brief. Washington, D.C.: Health Affairs, April 27, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1377/hpb20230321.466701.

Thomas, Melvin, and Richard Moye. “Race, Class, and Gender and the Impact of Racial Segregation on Black-White Income Inequality.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 1, no. 4 (October 2015): 490–502. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649215581665.

Williams, David R., and Chiquita Collins. “Racial Residential Segregation: A Fundamental Cause of Racial Disparities in Health.” Public Health Reports 116, no. 5 (September 2001): 404–16. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12042604/.