Black Non-Family Households: Their Socioeconomic Position and Spatial Buffering; .

This book seeks to refine discussions about racial residential segregation and the black middle class by focusing on the overlooked but increasingly important black non-family household. Using the 1970-2000 U.S. censuses, analysis of black household data for Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles confirms that non-family households are a growing segment among black households, that single and living alone (SALA) households are a substantial subgroup of this non-family household type, and that a very small portion of non-family households hold a socioeconomic position between other-family and married-couple family household types. Results from the dissimilarity index and mapping indicate that non-family households are not acting as a spatial buffer between the traditional black middle class and the black poor. Multivariate regression analysis finds that racial and regional indicators influence spatial separation between black households more than housing and income indicators. Overall, black non-family households are a diverse group both socioeconomically and spatially and are at a relative disadvantage in their life chances compared to black married-couple family households.