What’s New in Race and Residential Mobility? An Analysis of Individual and Ecological Factors

Cecily Darden, University of Maryland

This research is an effort to bridge the ecological theoretical assumptions of residential segregation for racial and ethnic minorities with the social demographic assumptions of individual residential mobility. Using the 2001 and 2003 American Housing Surveys and the 2000 US Census, this research addresses the following questions: What are the individual life-cycle, household, neighborhood and metropolitan area characteristics associated with residential mobility? More specifically, how does the interaction of these factors differ by race? Thus, (1) While residential segregation, home ownership and income may remain strong predictors of residential mobility, how have these factors changed over time, and what other variables are likely to figure prominently; (2) What are the current direction and magnitude of the variables that serve as barriers and enablers to residential mobility, and how do they vary by race; (3) What has been the impact of suburbanization on these patterns?