Are residents of ethnic concentrations necessarily poor? We tested this notion with Census 2000 data for Asian and Latino households in the New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco CMSAs. Ethnic concentrations included all census tracts in which the group comprised over 40% of the population. While many residential concentrations had low incomes, 11% of concentrated Latinos and 57% of concentrated Asians had incomes above their metropolitan medians for all households. Moreover, 18% of concentrated Asians lived in tracts with incomes at least 50% higher than the metropolitan medians. Higher-income residents within concentrations were more likely to be U.S.-born and proficient in English. Thus scholars need to revise the widespread view that people living in ethnic concentrations are poor. Many Asians and Latinos who can afford homes in mostly White neighborhoods prefer to live where both Whites and their group are well represented.
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