What is the “neighbourhood” in neighbourhood satisfaction?

Using the neighborhood sub-sample from the American Housing Survey for 1985, 1989, 1993, this study tests whether the social context of the local micro-neighborhood or of the broader census tract more strongly affects neighborhood satisfaction. We find that the local context of the micro-neighborhood generally has a stronger effect on residents’ reported satisfaction. In contrast to studies aggregating to larger units, we find that greater residential stability in the micro-neighborhood increases reported neighborhood satisfaction. Low SES of the local micro-neighborhood decreases neighborhood satisfaction more than does the SES of the surrounding tract, and this effect is amplified in low-income tracts. Whereas prior evidence is mixed when aggregating perceptions of crime to larger units, we find a robust negative effect on satisfaction when aggregated to the micro-neighborhood