Index Of Dissimilarity Summary

A Summary of the Index of Dissimilarity
The index of dissimilarity is a measurement of segregation between two racial groups in a neighborhood compared to the city as a whole. Specifically, this measurement determines the evenness, or the consistency of a complete, integrated spread of two racial groups across a specified area in a city. The formula for calculating the index of dissimilarity is as follows: index of dissimilarity= 1/2 ∑_(i=1)^N▒|x_i/X- y_i/Y|
Here, “x_i” represents the number of individuals of race “x” from tract “i”; likewise, “y_i” represents the number of individuals of race “y” from same tract “i.” The total populations of races “x” and “y” in the city are denoted by “X” and “Y,” respectively. By taking one-half of the grand sum of the differences of the proportions of two distinct races in each neighborhood with respect with to their whole racial population in the city, the index of dissimilarity generates a numerical value between 0 and 1 that can be used to interpret the level of segregation present in a city. An index of dissimilarity of less than
In 2010, the United States Census Bureau recorded the characteristics of each household in specified city blocks; as a result, the index of dissimilarity was calculated using these census tracts. By utilizing the dissimilarity formula, the index of dissimilarity between these two racial groups in Atlanta was approximately 0.797. The high value of this statistic indicates a general absence of non-Hispanic white people in city blocks with a majority of non-Hispanic black people, and vice-versa. Ideally, the separation of these races between the city blocks, as indicated by the dissimilarity statistic, reveals a high amount of segregation between the non-Hispanic white population and non-Hispanic black population in