Census figures indicate segregation is still alive in Missouri. The Brookings Institution has analyzed a decade of census information for the nation’s 100 biggest metropolitan areas. The study says the St. Louis area is the seventh most segregated metro area in the country in terms of segregation between whites and blacks. But only 13 other cities are better at integrating whites with Hispanics.
The figures indicate black-white segregation increased in 25 of those metro areas. But Kansas City went the other way. After ranking 16th in the country in black-white segregation in 2000, it ranks 28th now. Only seven other cities have shown bigger decreases in black-white segregation than Kansas City.