The residential distribution of status groups in Puerto Rico’s metropolitan areas

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pattern of residential segregation of status groups in Puerto Rico’s three metropolitan areas. The findings showed that in all three areas: (1) as the social status distance between groups increases so too does the degree of dissimilarity of their residential distributions; (2) the status groups most residentially segregated are those at the top and at the bottom of the status pyramid; (3) the pattern of residential centralization of status groups for Ponce and Mayaguez are such that the highest status groups are the most centralized while the lowest status groups are the most decentralized, but in San Juan it is the highest status groups that are the most decentralized and the lowest status groups that are the most centralized. The data are from the 1960 census. Indicators of status employed are education, occupation, and income. Differences in findings about centralization between San Juan and the other cities are explained in terms of differential economic development.