Cleveland Leads Index of the Most Racially Segregated Cities

Alexander Kent and Thomas C. Frolich summarize the narrative behind a recent post: "Large metropolitan areas are among the nation’s most segregated regions, and while none are meaningfully integrated, some are divided far more along racial lines than others."

Writing for 24/7 Wall Street, the two authors set out to identify the most segregated neighborhoods in the United States. To do so, they "constructed an index based on the share of a metro area’s population living in racially homogeneous zip codes — areas where more than 80% of the population is of a single race or ethnicity. In metro areas with complete integration, every zip code has the same racial/ethnic distribution as the area’s whole population. In areas with the worst segregation, no one lives in a zip code with anyone of a different race/ethnicity."

The index producesCleveland-Elyria, OH as the most segregated city in the United States, with"more than 55% of its population living in homogeneous zip codes." Moreover, "[o]f the roughly 100 zip codes in the area, 63 are predominantly white and are home to nearly 70% of Cleveland’s white population. The metro area’s black population is similarly segregated, with 30.9% concentrated in just six zip codes."Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI took the second spot on the list.