Modesto segregation up slightly. It can affect home values, life expectancy and income
Despite American cities diversifying over the past few decades, some regions including Modesto have become slightly more segregated than before, a University of California, Berkeley, study shows.
Segregation laws divided people into different neighborhoods based on race, causing inequities within predominately Black and Latino communities. The study determined that outcomes including home values, life expectancy and income remained worse for residents in segregated neighborhoods than for those in more integrated areas.
From most to least segregated cities, Modesto showed signs of low to medium segregation and ranked 103rd out of 112, according to the study. Only cities with populations above 200,000 were ranked. An interactive map breaks down the regions that were segregated and integrated between 1980 and 2019.
Researchers used data from U.S. Census tracts, cities and core-based statistical areas to measure segregation, the website states.
Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen said that moving forward, the city must be mindful and intentional about equity issues. “I’m certainly committed to that,” she said.
Andrew Conteh, a political science lecturer at Stanislaus State, said he believes as the wealth gap between the rich and the poor widens, the issue of segregation will get only worse.
“We are seeing skyrocketing (housing) prices, which means we’re going to have more segregated towns than ever,” he said.
Among people in highly segregated white neighborhoods, homeownership is about 77%, compared to 59% among those in well-integrated areas and 46% in highly segregated communities of color, the UC Berkeley study pointed out.
Median home values were also significantly higher in highly segregated white neighborhoods, averaging $474,798, compared to $266,927 in highly segregated communities of color and $244,162 in integrated areas.
The study further reveals that people in segregated white neighborhoods will live four years longer than someone from a segregated community of color and three years longer than a resident living in an integrated region.
Moreover, poverty rates for people living in highly segregated areas are three times higher than those living in a segregated white neighborhood, according to the UC Berkeley study.
Conteh, who believes segregation is the root of poverty within Black and Latino communities, said he thinks the termination of the rent moratorium at the end of July will lead to more homeless people of color.
Modesto Councilman Chris Ricci said the study exposes an increasing problem that’s not only happening locally, but throughout the country.
Overall, the West Coast is the third most segregated region in the country behind the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic areas.
Along with Modesto, segregation numbers worsened for other California metropolitan areas including Santa Rosa, Sacramento, San Francisco, Vallejo, San Jose, Chico, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield, Oxnard, Riverside and San Diego.
Meanwhile, Fresno and Stockton improved.
“I think it reflects the larger issues that we have in our society, period,” Ricci said. “In terms of economic opportunity and affordable housing … those things are the driving forces in these numbers.”
Residents in highly segregated white neighborhoods earned an average of about $100,956 a year, compared to $54,278 for people in highly segregated communities of color and $63,830 for those in integrated areas.
Ricci said he would be surprised if Modesto continues to become more segregated, given that the city is making affordable housing a priority.
“The problem right now is that you’ve got all the high-end rental real estate in certain parts of town and all low in real estate and other parts of town,” he said. “Until that issue gets resolved, you’re going to have these kinds of problems.”
This story was originally published July 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Modesto segregation up slightly. It can affect home values, life expectancy and income."
