Residential hierarchy in Los Angeles: An examination of ethnic and documentation status differences

•We examine group differences in neighborhood quality among Los Angeles residents.•Whites live in the best neighborhoods while minorities live in the poorest areas.•SES effects for undocumented Latinos are equal to or weaker than whites and blacks.•In some ways, penalty attached to being undocumented is greater than black penalty.

Longitudinal event history data from two waves of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey are used to explore racial, ethnic, and documentation status differences in access to desirable neighborhoods. We first find that contrary to recent findings, undocumented Latinos do not replace blacks at the bottom of the locational attainment hierarchy. Whites continue to end up in neighborhoods that are less poor and whiter than minority groups, while all minorities, including undocumented Latinos, end up in neighborhoods that are of similar quality. Second, the effects of socioeconomic status for undocumented Latinos are either similar to or weaker than disadvantaged blacks. These findings suggest that living in less desirable neighborhoods is a fate disproportionately borne by non-white Los Angeles residents and that in some limited ways, the penalty attached to being undocumented Latino might actually be greater than the penalty attached to being black.