The Residential Segregation of Immigrants in the United States from 1850 to 1940

Abstract

We provide the first estimates of immigrant residential segregation between 1850 and 1940 that cover the entire United States and are consistent across time and space. To do so, we adapt the Logan–Parman method to immigrants by measuring segregation based on the nativity of the next-door neighbor. In addition to providing a consistent measure of segregation, we also document new patterns such as high levels of segregation in rural areas, in small factory towns and for non-European sources. Early twentieth-century immigrants spatially assimilated at a slow rate, leaving immigrants’ lived experience distinct from natives for decades after arrival.

Life after crossing the border: Assimilation during the first Mexican mass migration

“…27 The slow acquisition of English fluency may suggest that Mexican immigrants were more residentially segregated from the US-born than Italians, but this was not the case. Panel B of Figure 4 shows the residential segregation levels of Mexicans and Italians at the county level, based on the neighbor segregation measure from Eriksson and Ward (2019). The segregation index measures the difference between the expected number of US-born households that are next-door neighbors relative to the actual number, where a higher number indicates greater segregation (Eriksson and Ward 2019).…”

“…Panel B of Figure 4 shows the residential segregation levels of Mexicans and Italians at the county level, based on the neighbor segregation measure from Eriksson and Ward (2019). The segregation index measures the difference between the expected number of US-born households that are next-door neighbors relative to the actual number, where a higher number indicates greater segregation (Eriksson and Ward 2019). 28 Mexican immigrants started with a segregation level of 0.44 near 27 Controlling for geography (i.e., county of residence or urban status) or literacy does not narrow the English acquisition gap across groups (see Online Appendix Table A3).…”

“…where is the actual number of US-born next-door households in the county, and ( ) is the expected number under random assignment (Eriksson and Ward 2019). For a few examples, an index of one indicates complete segregation, zero indicates random assignment within the county, and a value of 0.75 indicates that the actual number of US-born neighbors is 25 percent of the expected number under random assignment.…”

“…Border state indicates living in California, Arizona, New Mexico or Texas. The segregation levels are taken from Eriksson and Ward (2019); US-born whites are assigned a level of zero. Log source country population is the log number of Mexican immigrants for Mexicans and Italian immigrants for Italians; US-born whites are assigned zero.…”

Rural–urban migration and ethnic diversification in Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Nepal

“…Early studies of cities in the United States of America (USA) found residential segregation of immigrants by ethnic origin (Burgess, 1924, 1928). Eriksson and Ward (2019) found high levels of immigrant residential segregation throughout the USA between 1850 and 1940. Their study provided empirical evidence of how immigrants of that period lived in areas and neighborhoods that were distinct and separate from the native population.…”