The Hypersegregation Myth

"Developed in the mid-1950s and used widely since 1965, the segregation index long has presented a paradox: It ranks metro areas with relatively large African-American populations as the "most segregated," while rating Western cities with tiny populations of blacks as more integrated. Cities such as Milwaukee, Detroit and Cleveland were labeled as bastions of "hypersegregation," while Salt Lake City, with a metro area population that is just 1.3% black, was held up as a model of integration... The UWM researchers offer a definition that measures the percentage of residents in a metro area who live on blocks that are at least 20% black and 20% white - with the remaining 60% made up of any combination of black, white or other ethnicity."