CensusScope -- Segregation: Dissimilarity Indices

Select a segregation measure to chart:
	Exposure by Race
	Dissimilarity Indices

For a metropolitan area or city:


	then

Select a dissimilarity index to rank:

Select the geographical units you want ranked:
	Metropolitan Areas
	Cities
	in

CensusScope is a product of the Social Science Data Analysis Network.

Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, MI

Print-Friendly Version

SEGREGATION: DISSIMILARITY INDICES

The dissimilarity index measures the relative separation or integration of groups across all neighborhoods of a city or metropolitan area. If a city's white-black dissimilarity index were 65, that would mean that 65% of white people would need to move to another neighborhood to make whites and blacks evenly distributed across all neighborhoods.

Dissimilarity Indices
	Dissimilarity Index		Percent of
	With Whites*	Population**	Total Population
White*	--	377,369	83.33%
Black*	59.4	41,819	9.23%
American Indian*	41.2	2,330	0.51%
Asian*	51.1	6,085	1.34%
Native Hawaiian*	88.2	103	0.02%
Other*	58.1	721	0.16%
Two or More Races*	31.7	8,128	1.79%
White/Black*	48.2	2,626	0.58%
White/American Indian*	35.8	2,340	0.52%
White/Asian*	50.0	846	0.19%
White/Other*	61.8	628	0.14%
Other Combinations*	--	1,688	0.37%
Hispanic	43.3	16,296	3.60%
Total Population	--	452,851	100.00%

* Non-Hispanic only.

* When a group's population is small, its dissimilarity index may be high even if the group's members are evenly distributed throughout the area. Thus, when a group's population is less than 1,000, exercise caution in interpreting its dissimilarity indices.

Source: William H. Frey and Dowell Myers' analysis of Census 2000; and the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).

Home | About | Help | Contact | Use Policy