This NC city is among best in the country for black, Hispanic and Asian kids, study says
A North Carolina city offers some of the best opportunities in the United States for Asian, black and Hispanic children, but there are still wide discrepancies compared to white kids, a new study says.
Researchers at Brandeis University in Massachusetts recently released their Childhood Opportunity Index 2.0, which ranks neighborhoods in the 100 largest metro areas in the country. The index measures “quality of resources and conditions” that are important for healthy development in children, according to researchers.
No North Carolina cities fell among the top 10 in terms of opportunities for children overall, the study found.
But Raleigh ranked among the top metro areas in the country when it comes to kids who are minorities. The city claimed the No. 1 spot for Asian children, No. 6 for black children and No. 8 for Hispanic children.
Scores are based on several “conditions,” including proximity to early childhood education centers, high school graduation rates, health care and poverty levels. They fall into three three categories: health, environment and education.
Overall, cities in the South didn’t fare well in the study.
States in the Great Plains and New England earned among the highest scores, highlighting how geography can play a big role in opportunities for kids.
“With few exceptions, metros in the southern portion of the country have notably lower opportunity scores than those in the northern portion,” researchers said. “California’s Central Valley and a couple of metros in Texas have some of the lowest-opportunity neighborhoods for children.”
Raleigh was the only city in the South that made it in the top 10 for opportunities for black and Hispanic children. Jackson, Mississippi ranked No. 6 for Asian children.
Researchers also found discrepancies across racial and ethnic identities.
Black children are 7.6 times more likely to live in an area with “substantially lower” opportunities than white children, according to the study. Hispanic children are 5.3 times more likely.
Raleigh is no exception, the study found.
Twenty-four percent of white children in the metro area live in neighborhoods with “very high” opportunity levels, while only 7.1% of Hispanic children and 4.3% of black children live in such areas, according to the study.
Meanwhile, 40% of black children and 33% of Hispanic children in Raleigh live in neighborhoods with “very low” opportunity levels. The study found that 10.6% of white children live in such neighborhoods.
Even in metros with the top overall opportunity scores in the country, the scores for black and Hispanic children were “substantially lower” than those for white and Asian children.
Kids who live in neighborhoods with fewer opportunities typically have a lower chance of upward economic mobility, the study says. And they tend to not live as long.
The index found that the life expectancy at birth in very high opportunity neighborhoods is 82, compared to 75 in very low opportunity neighborhoods.
This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 1:18 PM.
