How Racially Segregated Is Santa Cruz? Study Weighs In

SANTA CRUZ, CA — The 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police spawned what many called a national reckoning on race, prompting residents of Santa Cruz and other U.S. communities to take a hard look at the disadvantages facing people of color and how those hurdles shape their overall lives and well-being.

Despite these efforts, a report from the Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley claims little attention has been paid to residential segregation — the process of sorting people into particular neighborhoods or communities based on race — and how it plays a role in connecting people in specific neighborhoods to home ownership, well-paying jobs, and other amenities. The report looks at which communities and metropolitan areas are affected most by racial residential segregation.

Ultimately, the report revealed some startling findings.

Santa Cruz has a low to medium level of segregation, according to the project’s interactive map. No Santa Cruz County cities were classified as racially integrated and overall, the county was considered to have a high level of segregation.

Here's how other Santa Cruz County cities fared.

• Scotts Valley: High segregation.
• Capitola: Low to medium segregation.
• Watsonville: High segregation.

Among metropolitan regions in the United States with more than 200,000 residents, 81 percent — 169 cities out of 209 — were more segregated in 2019 than they were in 1990, according to the report, which was released in June.

The project will hopefully serve as a tool for local grassroots organizations and advocates to support fair housing litigation and policy reforms, according to the institute’s website.

The most segregated regions are the Midwest and mid-Atlantic, followed by the West Coast, according to the report. Cities in these areas disproportionately made the list of top 10 most segregated cities, including Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Trenton, New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Southern states have lower overall levels of segregation, and the Mountain West and Plains states have the least.

Out of the 113 largest cities examined, only Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Port St. Lucie, Florida, qualify as “integrated” under the project’s rubric.

Here are some other key findings from the report:

• Neighborhood poverty rates are highest in segregated communities of color. The poverty rates in these communities average 21 percent, compared with 7 percent in segregated white neighborhoods.
• Black children raised in integrated neighborhoods earn nearly $1,000 more per year as adults, and $4,000 more when raised in white neighborhoods.
• Latino children raised in integrated neighborhoods earn $844 more per year as adults, and $5,000 more when raised in white neighborhoods.
• Household incomes and home values in white neighborhoods are nearly twice as high as those in segregated communities of color.
• Homeownership is 77 percent in highly segregated white neighborhoods, 59 percent in well-integrated neighborhoods, and 46 percent in highly segregated communities of color.

The report also found that regions with higher levels of racial segregation also have higher levels of political polarization. This means when racial segregation is greater, political gerrymandering — the process of drawing political districts for political advantage — may be easier.

Read the full report on the Othering & Belonging Institute website.