This research proposes to evaluate migration processes associated with race-ethnic redistribution -- both across and within large US metropolitan areas over the period 1975-2000 -- to detect tendencies toward greater minority dispersal. The last three decades have shown a dramatic rise in the size and diversity of the nation's race and ethnic minority populations, but they have also shown these populations to be quite unevenly distributed across metropolitan areas as well as within them. The concentration of Hispanic and Asian populations in New York, Los Angeles, and a few other large metropolitan areas is related to their recent immigrant status and attachments to co-ethnic communities in those areas. Yet, recent Census 200'0 results suggest their greater geographic dispersal. The African-American population, while less concentrated than these groups, has shown an increased tendency to relocate in the South reversing a long-standing movement in the reverse direction. Within metropolitan areas, all three groups are more concentrated in central cities and selected inner suburb communities, than non-Hispanic whites. Yet, all three have shown tendencies toward greater suburbanization, which have been more apparent in growing metropolitan areas which are attracting more minorities. The migration processes underlying these inter-metropolitan, and intra-metropolitan minority redistribution patterns will be evaluated in this study from analyses of the """"""""residence five-years ago"""""""" question from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 US censuses of population. The study will assess the extent to which these migration processes are leading to a greater dispersion of race and ethnic minorities both across and within large metropolitan areas. This project involves a team of demographers, sociologists, and geographers as well as consultants with GIS (Geographical Information Systems) expertise to assist in classifying metropolitan areas, conducting migration modeling, and evaluating the impacts of migration processes using standard demographic methods.
