What is white flight in simple terms?

White residents moving away, often to suburbs, as minority residents arrive.

Is it only about race?

Research finds racial attitudes plus housing, schools and taxes all matter.

White Flight

👥 Sociology By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated October 27, 2026

White flight refers to the movement of white residents out of city neighbourhoods, typically to suburbs, as Black and other minority residents moved in, especially in mid-twentieth-century America. It is central to explaining urban residential segregation and inner-city decline.

Contents

1. Background
2. Tipping
3. Causes and consequences
4. FAQ
5. References

Background

As Black southerners migrated north and west after the Second World War, white middle-class families moved to suburbs aided by highway and mortgage policies. Massey and Denton (1993) linked this to hyper-segregation, echoing succession in Chicago School urban ecology.

Tipping

Schelling (1971) showed mild preferences can cascade into full segregation, a tipping point. Card and colleagues (2008) estimated tipping points of roughly 5–20 per cent minority share.

Causes and consequences

Frey (1979) stressed nonracial factors too, Crowder (2000) confirmed racial context matters for individual moves, and Boustan (2010) estimated causal effects of Black migration. Kruse (2005) tied white flight to modern conservatism; today it is discussed alongside gentrification.

FAQ

What is white flight in simple terms?: White residents moving away, often to suburbs, as minority residents arrive.
Is it only about race?: Research finds racial attitudes plus housing, schools and taxes all matter.

Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26

References

Schelling, T. C. (1971). Dynamic models of segregation. Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 1(2), 143–186. Tipping and segregation model.
Frey, W. H. (1979). Central city white flight: Racial and nonracial causes. American Sociological Review, 44(3), 425–448. Racial vs nonracial causes.
Massey, D. S., & Denton, N. A. (1993). American apartheid: Segregation and the making of the underclass. Harvard University Press. Segregation classic.
Crowder, K. (2000). The racial context of white mobility: An individual-level assessment of the white flight hypothesis. Social Science Research, 29(2), 223–257. Individual-level test.
Kruse, K. M. (2005). White flight: Atlanta and the making of modern conservatism. Princeton University Press. Atlanta and conservatism.
Card, D., Mas, A., & Rothstein, J. (2008). Tipping and the dynamics of segregation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123(1), 177–218. Estimated tipping points.
Boustan, L. P. (2010). Was postwar suburbanization "white flight"? Evidence from the black migration. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(1), 417–443. Causal evidence.

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Schelling's Segregation ModelWhat Schelling's segregation model is, his 1969–1971 checkerboard simulations, micromotives and macrobehavior, tipping, extensions in agent-based modeling, evidence from Card, Mas and Rothstein, and critiques about structural discrimination.👥 Sociology GentrificationWhat gentrification means, how Ruth Glass coined the term in 1964, rent-gap and consumption-side explanations, typical stages, displacement of residents and small businesses, and policy responses such as tenant protections in Korea.👥 Sociology Chicago School Urban EcologyChicago School urban ecology explained: Park, Burgess and McKenzie's human ecology, the concentric zone model and zone in transition, invasion and succession, Wirth's urbanism, Shaw and McKay's social disorganization, later models and criticism.👥 Sociology Tipping PointWhat a tipping point is, how Grodzins and Schelling used it to explain residential segregation, Granovetter's threshold model of collective behavior, Gladwell's popularization, climate tipping elements, and experiments on social conventions.👥 Sociology

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This article was last updated on October 27, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.