Determinants of Black Suburbanization: Regional and Suburban Size Category Patterns*

This study analyzes the movement of blacks to the suburbs of American metropolitan areas using the framework developed by Taeuber and Taeuber (1965) for the analysis of racial transition in inner city neighborhoods. The data are consistent with their model and suggest that the rate of black population growth is a function not only of the characteristics of individual suburbs themselves but also of the central cities of the metropolitan areas within which they are located. The units of annlysis are all suburbs with populations of 10000 or more in 1960 and 1970. Suburban size is a key characteristic because the independent variables affect black population growth quite differently in different size categories. While there are clear differences between southern and nonsouthern suburbs in average levels of the push and pull variables as well as the rate at which the black suburban population grew in the 1960s the effects of these variables on black suburban growth were the same in both regions. (authors)