Unequal Neighborhood Economic Conditions and Safety for Black and White Families with Comparable Family Socioeconomic Position

Abstract

Background: Family socioeconomic position (SEP) is often linked to neighborhood conditions, with higher SEP generally associated with more advantaged structural characteristics such as higher neighborhood income and lower poverty. Whether these associations extend similarly to neighborhood safety, and whether these patterns vary across racial/ethnic groups, remains an important but understudied question. Objective: To examine how family SEP associates to multiple dimensions of neighborhood conditions—including economic resources, poverty, and crime-related indicators—and to estimate whether these associations differ across racial/ethnic groups. Methods: We analyzed individual-level family SEP indicators in relation to neighborhood characteristics, including safety (violent offenses, drug-related offenses, drug sales, marijuana sales, drug possession, and driving under influence [DUI] events). Associations were estimated overall and separately by racial/ethnic background. Models adjusted for demographic covariates. Analyses focused on cross-sectional patterns and emphasized associations rather than mechanisms. Results: Higher family socioeconomic position was associated with more advantaged neighborhood characteristics overall and across both racial/ethnic groups. These associations were generally stronger for Black families than for White families when the outcomes reflected neighborhood income and poverty levels. In contrast, the associations between family SEP and neighborhood crime statistics were weaker for Black families than for White families. This pattern suggests that higher family SEP corresponded differently to improvements in neighborhood economic and safety characteristics for Black and White families. Conclusions: Family socioeconomic position is linked to more advantaged neighborhood environments, but the strength of these associations varies across racial/ethnic groups and depends on the neighborhood domain being examined. Economic neighborhood features appear more responsive to family SEP among Black families, whereas neighborhood safety indicators seem more responsive to family SEP among White families. These findings raise the possibility that crime metrics may partly reflect racialized policing that are not equally sensitive to socioeconomic improvements of Black and White communities.