Differences in Income for Foreign-Born Blacks Across Settlement Types in an Era of Rising Anti-Immigration Sentiment

Traditional immigration patterns show immigrants in the United States settling in cities with a high density of co-ethnics called ethnic enclaves. There has been a shift in the last three decades where immigrants are moving to suburbs with a high density of one ethnic group called an ‘ethnoburb’ or mixed ethnicity suburbs. Partly reflecting the composition of migration flows, prior work has heavily focused on foreign-born Hispanics and Asians. Less attention has been paid to the settlement patterns of foreign-born Blacks. Furthermore, immigration has become more contested in the United States due to changing political discourse and it is unclear whether previous settlement patterns persist. Using the 2019 5-year estimates from the American Community Survey, this research explores: (1) how do the sociodemographic characteristics of foreign-born Blacks who settle in areas of high co-ethnic density compare to foreign-born Blacks who settle in areas of less co-ethnic density? and (2) how does income attainment compare between different settlement types for foreign-born Blacks? Foreign-born Blacks settle in areas of high co-ethnic density the most, but those who settle in areas of medium co-ethnic density have the highest earnings