This data is reprinted from a series on segregation in Illinois published in the February 2019 issue of Governing magazine: School Segregation data for U.S. Metro Areas.
Elevated levels of school segregation between blacks and whites remain prevalent throughout many areas of the country.
A number of factors might explain varying degrees to which schools are segregated. School segregation largely reflects where people live — particularly residential segregation — and local demographics. How school district boundary lines are drawn and how schools are funded also often play a role.
To assess school segregation between black and white students, Governing compiled the latest enrollment data reported by the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. For our primary measure of segregation, we calculated what is known as the index of dissimilarity, a commonly used measure by sociologists that reflects the extent to which the ratio of black-to-white students in each school matches that same ratio for an entire area.
Examining segregation for school districts or cities usually does not capture segregation taking place across different districts or larger geographies. So we calculated dissimilarity indices for entire metro areas, using the federal government's 2018 geographic definitions. (See the full report methodology.)
The median black-white dissimilarity index for 242 metro areas reviewed was 0.545 when those with small enrollments of either less than 2,000 black students or 2,000 white students were excluded.
The following table shows calculated dissimilarity indices, ranging from 0 (no segregation) to 1 (complete segregation).
Source: Governing analysis of enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics, 2015-2016 Common Core of Data
About the data
Metro areas with black or white student enrollment under 2,000 were excluded. Results strictly reflect segregation between non-Hispanic whites and blacks and are not intended to represent other races or ethnicities. School enrollment data considers only public, not private, schools. Geographic definitions for metro areas are based on the most recent revised delineations issued in September 2018 by the federal Office of Management and Budget. Read the complete methodology.