Diversity or Segregation? A Multi-decadal Spatial Analysis of Demographics of Atlanta Neighborhoods

Abstract

The City of Atlanta has seen phenomenal urban expansion, racial re-composition, and migration patterns over decades. In this paper, we try to answer overarching question: Has the economic development and urban sprawl in Atlanta been accompanied by racially diverse neighborhoods? Or has the economic development in Atlanta led to a racially integrated landscape? We use demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Panel Study for Income Dynamics. First, we use hotspot analysis to study temporal changes in spatial patterns of concentration of the black population in Atlanta. Second, using the index of dissimilarity (D) and interaction index (I), we estimate the extent of segregation between whites and blacks. Third, we calculate the migration effectiveness in three sub-regions of Atlanta. The results show that hotspots of the black population are located in the central and south-central parts of Atlanta, and have expanded predominantly in the eastern and southern directions during the last four decades. Racial diversity has increased generally in the counties immediately north of the city proper, but the southern and peripheral counties had less racial diversity. Remarkably, southern Atlanta did not witness the economic development in the same way as northern Atlanta. The migration effectiveness index shows that, in recent years, Atlanta suburbs attracted more migrants, both from within the Atlanta region and from the rest of the United States, as compared to the Atlanta city proper. In recent decades, neighborhoods in the Suburb-I becoming racially more diverse, and one would expect this trend will extend in other regions too in the future.