Post-1980 Black Population Redistribution Trends in the United States

Using data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) and other U.S. census documents, this paper demonstrates how three rather dramatic shifts in the migration behavior of blacks, which took shape during the 1970s, continued to contribute to the geographical redistribution of the black population down the urban hierarchy during the 1980s. Analyses of black migration flows into six metropolitan areas suggest that liberal welfare benefits play, at best, a minor role in contemporary black population redistribution trends. Kinship ties (i.e., location-specific capital), the search for affordable housing, and employment in the hospitality services industry appear to be the dominant forces influencing black migration into the case-study communities.