Study: 'Global Neighborhoods' Are Proliferating in the United States

"In all parts of the United States, the number of neighborhoods that sustain a mix of black, white, Asian and Hispanic residents over time is growing quickly," reports Gillian Kiley.

Kiley is sharing the findings of a new study published in Demography and written by researchers at Brown University and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. "Global Neighborhoods: Beyond the Multiethnic Metropolis," as the study is titled, "assessed 342 metropolitan regions with populations of at least 50,000 over the period from 1980 to 2010 to determine whether integrated neighborhoods existed outside of the nation's most diverse metropolitan centers."

The authors chose the term "global neighborhoods" to describe places where whites and blacks live alongside Hispanics, Asians, or both. According to the study, global neighborhoods "are showing up in large numbers in each type of metropolitan center, throughout the country, in urban areas with different histories and combinations of populations."

While the study might seem at first glance to report unequivocally good news, there are also a few reasons to pause. "While the number of global neighborhoods is on the rise, the study also found increasing numbers of all-minority neighborhoods caused by white residents moving out of previously mixed areas—close to a 50 percent increase over the 30-year period," adds Giley.