An Examination of the Spatial Distribution of Immigrant Residential Segregation

Weiwei Zhang, Brown University

Previous studies on immigrant residential segregation have focused on the understanding of residential patterns at different levels of geographic units. However, there are few studies looking at the spatial distribution of such patterns across space. With the utilization of the techniques of exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial regression models, the current study intends to examine whether immigrant neighborhoods randomly distributed across space and whether the predictors of individual residential segregations also predict the non-randomly spatial arrangement of the residential clustering. Based on the census 2000 data, this study reveals several findings. First, the statistics of the county-level segregation measure exhibit moderate positive spatial autocorrelation, which indicates the non-randomness of the distribution. Second, distinctive regional differences in presenting local clusters are observed and statistically tested. It suggests future studies on spatial distribution of segregation should consider spatial heterogeneity across large regions.