CensusScope -- Segregation: Dissimilarity Indices

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	Exposure by Race
	Dissimilarity Indices

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

Memphis, TN-AR-MS

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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*	--	588,808	51.85%
Black*	72.2	490,665	43.21%
American Indian*	45.9	2,168	0.19%
Asian*	46.5	15,686	1.38%
Native Hawaiian*	80.2	319	0.03%
Other*	65.9	1,061	0.09%
Two or More Races*	39.8	9,387	0.83%
White/Black*	58.4	1,850	0.16%
White/American Indian*	44.1	1,946	0.17%
White/Asian*	46.0	1,440	0.13%
White/Other*	62.6	1,343	0.12%
Other Combinations*	--	2,808	0.25%
Hispanic	53.4	27,520	2.42%
Total Population	--	1,135,614	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).

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