Behind the Metric: Racial/Ethnic Diversity and Neighborhood Racial/Ethnic Segregation

Health is linked to where we live, factors like how much money we make, and our race and ethnicity. Decades of research confirm that residential segregation by race and ethnicity is a major cause of health disparities in our country.

The City Health Dashboard includes two metrics, diversity and residential segregation, for exploring racial and ethnic breakdowns and their associated health, economic, and educational outcomes within communities. These metrics can help answer questions like the extent to which segregation is present in neighborhoods that have high rates of diabetes, mental illness, or child poverty. Understanding racial and ethnic patterns within a city or neighborhood can help community leaders develop programs and policies that give everyone a fair shot at living a long and healthy life.

About the Metrics

Diversity and segregation are related but different concepts. The diversity metric helps us think about the racial and ethnic makeup of a city or neighborhood, while the segregation score helps us understand where those groups live relative to each other within a defined area. While we might expect diversity and segregation to be aligned, they may not go hand-in-hand.

Note: The five racial/ethnic groups represented on the Dashboard are Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, and other race. (For more on how the Dashboard defines race/ethnicity, please see our FAQ or Technical Documentation, Part 1.)

Visualizing Racial/Ethnic Diversity

The diversity score answers the question: "What is the racial/ethnic makeup of this city or tract? Is the area dominated by a single group, are all groups present in equal amounts, or is it somewhere in between?"

This metric uses a score on a scale of 0 to 100. A very low diversity score means that a single racial or ethnic group makes up most of the population in the area, while a very high diversity score means that the populations of the five racial/ethnic groups are roughly equal. The City Health Dashboard's city diversity scores range from 13.8 to the highest at 94.3; the average score is about 63.

The figure below shows population breakdowns and diversity scores for two cities, Hialeah, FL and New York, NY. Hialeah, on the left, has a diversity score of 20.3 and New York City, on the right, has a diversity score of 88.9, one of the highest Dashboard diversity scores. Hialeah has a population that is almost entirely Hispanic. New York City has a more even distribution of the five racial/ethnic groups.

City Diversity Scores for Hialeah, FL (left) and New York, NY (right)

The Dashboard also measures diversity at the census tract level, because while a city may be diverse, not all census tracts reflect that diversity.

Digging deeper into New York City can help illustrate this point. The figures below show population breakdowns for five census tracts in New York City. Although New York City has an overall diversity score of 88.9, that score varies widely across the city at the census tract level, as you can see.

Tract Racial/Ethnic Breakdown, by Diversity Score

Visualizing Neighborhood Racial/Ethnic Segregation

The segregation score answers the question: "Do people of the same racial and ethnic identities tend to live in the same neighborhoods, or do they live mixed throughout the city's neighborhoods?"

The figures below show the levels of racial and ethnic segregation in two hypothetical cities. Each color represents one of the five racial/ethnic groups represented on the Dashboard (the size of the blocks is random). The graphic on the left represents a city with a low segregation score; the five racial/ethnic groups are mixed throughout the city and there is no discernible pattern to their locations. The graphic on the right represents a city with a high segregation score. Here, people of the same racial and ethnic groups live clustered together and apart from people of other groups.

Low Neighborhood Racial/Ethnic Segregation vs. High Neighborhood Racial/Ethnic Segregation

What do the data tell us?

Putting together the information from a city's diversity and segregation scores can expand our understanding of our communities. It is important to remember that a community can be very diverse but also very segregated at the same time, as these two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

• A high diversity score and low segregation score suggest that all five racial/ethnic groups are more evenly represented in the city's population and that people of different racial/ethnic identities typically live mixed throughout the city.

• A high diversity score and high segregation score suggest that all five racial/ethnic groups are more evenly represented in the city's population and that people with the same racial/ethnic identities typically live in the same neighborhoods.

• A low diversity score and low segregation score suggest that a city has one or two dominant racial/ethnic groups and that people with different racial/ethnic identities typically live mixed throughout the city.

A low diversity score and high segregation score suggest that a city has one or two dominant racial/ethnic groups and that people with the same racial/ethnic identities typically live in the same neighborhoods.

The table below presents this information visually.

Want to learn more about solutions to reduce disparities and improve health in your community? Check out the City Health Dashboard's Resources section!

Post Scripts

We're grateful to John Iceland and the Census Bureau for publishing the methods used in calculating these metrics.

Interested in a more technical overview of these measures and/or more on how the Dashboard defines race and ethnicity? Please see our FAQ or Technical Documentation, Part 1.