Trends in whites’ perceived black-white residential integration, 1972-2008

Trends and patterns in black-white residential segregation or integration in the United States have been studied extensively at an aggregate level (e.g., census tract or block-group) using census and survey data. This study examines trends in whites' perceived black-white residential integration using individual-level data from the 1972-2008 General Social Surveys. Our bivariate and logistic regression analyses show that, at the national level, the rate and likelihood of whites’ self-reports of sharing the same residential neighborhood with blacks had continuously increased from 1972 to 2008. Our regional analyses further confirm that the rates of whites’ self-reports of living with blacks in the same residential neighborhood had risen in the same period uniformly across regions with the South making the greatest strides and that, controlling for other variables, the likelihood of whites' perceived black-white residential integration had increased dramatically in the South since the late 1980s and relatively slowly in other regions. We also identify the profile of whites who are more or less likely to report living with blacks in the same neighborhood. The implications of the findings are addressed.