BLACK SUBURBANIZATION AND HOUSING QUALITY IN ATLANTA

During the 1970s, several researchers presented evidence that black suburbanization was increasing in many U.S. metropolitan areas. There was also evidence that blacks were not significantly improving their housing quality through suburbanization. This paper examines 1980 census data to determine whether black population movement in Atlanta is a suburbanization phenomenon leading to better quality housing. Several dozen census tracts are defined as composing Atlanta's black housing space. For each tract's black households, three measures of housing quality are treated as dependent variables. Regression analysis is used to show that a tract's change in black population during the 1970s is associated with all three dependent variables. The addition of suburbanism (population density) as a second independent variable further elaborates the relationship between black population change and two of the housing quality indicators. Thus, black suburbanization in the Atlanta area is leading to better quality housing for black residents.