How we measure segregation
“Milwaukee is America’s most segregated city.”
It’s a claim repeated over and over, but it is not entirely accurate.
Yes, the city of Milwaukee is very segregated and it is certainly among the most segregated.
But it’s actually the Milwaukee metropolitan region — which includes Milwaukee County suburbs and surrounding counties — that typically tops the rankings of most segregated areas.
The city itself falls in the top 10. But what do we mean when we say an area is the “most segregated?” How do experts measure segregation?
The segregation index
Segregation is typically measured using a black-white dissimilarity index. That represents the percentage of blacks that would need to relocate to be fully integrated with whites.
A value of 100 indicates complete segregation; a value of 0 equals complete integration.
The Milwaukee metropolitan area’s segregation index is 79.8, according to the Brookings Institution.
The city of Milwaukee’s segregation index is lower at 70.8, a Journal Sentinel analysis found.
How is integration defined
Full integration would mean every neighborhood had the same racial breakdown as the city or metro area as a whole, not a blanket 50-50 ratio.
For example, if a city is 60% white, 30% black and 10% Hispanic or Latino, then integration means each neighborhood would be composed of residents of whom 60% identify as white, 30% black and 10% Hispanic or Latino.
What does that mean in practical terms?
The Milwaukee metropolitan area’s segregation index is 79.8, according to the Brookings Institution.
That means at least three in four black residents in the metro area would need to relocate in order to live in fully integrated neighborhoods with whites.
What are the rankings for the city and metro area?
Where does the city of Milwaukee fall compared to other large cities when it comes to segregation?
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis of census data found the following ranking for black-white segregation of the country’s 50 largest cities:
1. Chicago
2. New York City
3. Miami
4. Atlanta
5. Philadelphia
6. Boston
7. Milwaukee
8. Washington, D.C.
9. Houston
10. Cleveland Meanwhile, the Milwaukee metro area routinely tops black-white segregation rankings from the Brookings Institution. The 2018 analysis from Brookings produced the following ranking:
1. Milwaukee
2. New York City
3. Chicago
4. Detroit
5. Cleveland
6. Buffalo, New York
7. St. Louis
8. Cincinnati
9. Philadelphia
10. Los Angeles
Why is it important to account for a metro area, not just a city?
Segregation is not restricted to city borders.
Suburban developments frequently included racially restrictive housing covenants and aggressive zoning laws to prevent black homeowners or renters from moving to an area, often in direct response to school desegregation and open housing policies elsewhere.
For example, the first racial restriction in Wauwatosa was placed on the Washington Highlands Subdivision in 1919. The covenant stated:
“At no time shall the land included in Washington Highlands or any part thereof, or any building thereon be purchased, owned, leased or occupied by any person other than of white race. This prohibition is not intended to include domestic servants while employed by the owner or occupied by and (sic) land included in the tract.”
By the 1940s, at least 16 of the 18 Milwaukee County suburbs were using racially restrictive covenants to exclude black families from residential areas, according to records from the Metropolitan Integration Research Center, a nonprofit active in the late 1970s that examined segregation.