How segregated are middle-class African Americans?

The prevailing opinion in the sociological literature is that middle-class blacks are almost as segregated from whites as are poor blacks. We re-examine this view. using a multivariate, locational-attainment approach in place of a segregation-index one. Controlling for a variety of socioeconomic characteristics, we find that middle-income, suburban African Americans live in neighborhoods with many more whites than do poor, inner-city blacks. But their neighborhoods are not the same as those of whites having the same socioeconomic characteristics: and, in particular middle-class blacks tend to live with white neighbors who are less affluent than they are. While, in a significant sense, they are less segregated than poor blacks, race still powerfully shapes their residential options.