Dissimilarity is the evenness with which one racial population group is located (or segregated) within a metro area, with respect to another racial group. The dissimilarity statistic is interpreted as the proportion of one racial group that would need to relocate to another neighborhood (census tract) for that racial group to be distributed across the metro area like a second (reference) racial group. A value of "0%" reflects absolute integration; a value of "100%" reflects absolute segregation.
Racial groups refer to people who indicated they were of specified race "alone." Excludes those specifying two or more races. Indices in metro areas with small numbers of specified racial/ethnic groups should be used with caution.
U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Census, Summary File 1 and 2010 Redistricting File. Modeled on analysis in: "Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation in the United States: 1980-2000," U.S. Census Bureau, Series CENSR-3.