Current Approaches to Measuring Local Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation in Population Health Studies

Purpose of Review

Segregation has traditionally been measured at the metropolitan area or county level, but a growing number of population health studies have measured segregation at the neighborhood or local level. In this review, we highlight the ways local racial and ethnic residential segregation has been measured in recently published population health studies (June 1, 2019–June 30, 2022).

Recent Findings

We identified 40 local segregation studies based on our search criteria. The majority used racial or ethnic composition to measure segregation, but several additional measures were identified that reflect different dimensions of segregation and the segregation process.

Summary

The choice of how best to operationalize segregation should be guided by the historical and geographic context surrounding the population under study. Our findings highlight several options available to support the development of meaningful and useful measures of segregation to study their impact on health inequities across a diverse range of outcomes and settings.