The Lasting Legacy of Redlining

Overview

• The Lasting Legacy of Redlining explores the discriminatory practice of redlining in an analysis of the racial segregation within 138 metropolitan cities. Ultimately, redlining has led to economic disparities and unequal opportunities for people of color to create generational wealth. As of 2020, Best and Mejia concluded that neighborhoods deemed “Hazardous”, or redlined zones, are still predominately inhabited by Black, Latino, and Asian groups, while “Best”, or A-rated neighborhoods remain mostly White. Despite this practice being introduced by the HOLC in the 1930s, minority groups’ housing, educational opportunities, healthcare access, and risk of climate change are all negatively impacted today.

Redlining Scores by Racial/Ethnic Group

The following table presents the best (A) and worst (D) HOLC grade of cities with total populations over 100,000 by racial/ethnic groups.

## # A tibble: 18 × 7
##    City              Grade Population White_Pct Black_Pct Hispanic_Pct Asian_Pct
##    <chr>             <chr>      <dbl>     <dbl>     <dbl>        <dbl>     <dbl>
##  1 Baltimore-Columb… D         125894      36.3     44.6          9.41      5.13
##  2 Boston-Cambridge… D         398204      45.1     12.2         23.4      12.1 
##  3 Chicago-Napervil… D         934095      26.8     31.8         31.6       6.78
##  4 Cleveland-Elyria… D         124295      22.8     59.5         10.7       2.66
##  5 Dallas-Fort Wort… D         118407      19.2     19.6         56.4       2.41
##  6 Detroit-Warren-D… D         267328      33.1     43.4         14.2       4.17
##  7 Indianapolis-Car… D         109690      50.0     26.5         16.4       1.82
##  8 Kansas City, MO-… D         141011      29.7     30.0         31.4       3.28
##  9 Los Angeles-Long… A         186826      56.6      6.83        13.4      17.1 
## 10 Los Angeles-Long… D        1160805      14.8      7.64        63.9      10.3 
## 11 Miami-Fort Laude… D         121849       4.7     31.0         62.2       0.45
## 12 Milwaukee-Waukes… D         150828      36.6     23.3         31.6       3.86
## 13 New York-Newark-… A         313867      65.5     10.1         11.7       7.91
## 14 New York-Newark-… D        3217775      28.4     24.3         32.0      10.5 
## 15 Philadelphia-Cam… D         564232      37.3     35.9         14.8       7.82
## 16 San Diego-Chula … D         158711      14.3     11.5         58.2      11.8 
## 17 San Francisco-Oa… D         361123      30.4     13.4         25.8      23.7 
## 18 Seattle-Tacoma-B… D         110159      48.5     12.0         11.7      17.8

Conclusion

• In cities with a population over 100,000 we see that two of 138 cities have an A rating with residents being primarily White. On the other hand, most redlined cities — generally considered “undesirable” areas to live in — have a higher concentration of Black and Latino groups. Still, areas like Seattle and Indianapolis are predominately White people, despite a D rating, briefly explained as possible gentrification. For a more thorough understanding of cities like these, it is necessary to understand the geography of jobs and regional planning to explain the drive back to “hazardous” areas.

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