How integrated is Atlanta really?
Atlanta was among the studied cities that were least likely to have high rates of black-white segregation
A Fresh Loaf post from Tuesday — about a decline in racially segregated neighborhoods in the U.S. — generated some conversation about how integrated Atlanta really is. According to an AP article, Atlanta was among the cities that were least likely to have high rates of black-white segregation (along with Fort Myers, Fla., Honolulu and Miami).
A few commenters weren't buying that ("wesleywhatwhat" said, "imo, atlanta is HEAVILY segregated by race"). Others defended Atlanta's racial interspersion ("oydave" wrote, "Wow, some of ya'll need to get out more. The Atlanta area is thoroughly integrated"). Thanks to the NY Times, there's a way to take a better look. Using Census Bureau's 2005 and 2009 community surveys, NYTimes.com put together an interactive map feature that details the racial makeup of individual Census tracts (by white, black, Hispanic, Asian and other).
In September, we posted a similar map of Atlanta's racial make-up as represented in dots (that one was created using 2000 Census data), but it was almost impossible to tell what was what (or, rather, where was where). The NY Times feature allows you to zoom in close enough to see neighborhoods, even streets. And when you roll your cursor over the map, you can see tract numbers and the percentage of each race or ethnic group populating them.
My take: Atlanta's kind of an integration crapshoot. For instance, Census tract 35, which includes part of downtown south west of Five Points, is pretty integrated (41 percent white, 46 percent black). The tract directly below it, tract 46, which includes neighborhood on either side of I-75/85 south of I-20, is 97 percent black, with no white population of which to speak. The southwest part of town is heavily black, while the northeast (South of Buford Highway) is very white. In between though, there really are a lot of neighborhoods that are pretty well integrated.
Thoughts?