Measuring Urban Well-Being: Race and Gender Matter
Author(s)
Mapalad-Ruane, Maria Claret M.; Rodriguez, Carolyn B.
Abstract
Studies attempting to measure social well-being that focus attention at national levels fail to provide insights into the actual conditions that are present at sub-national levels. With increased attention being focused on the conditions of urban areas, the need for sub-national evaluation is becoming more apparent. The growing diversity of the population and the increase in female-headed households leave researchers without resources for evaluating the conditions of these groups in smaller regional settings, in part due to the scarcity of well-being measurements at these levels. This study hopes to fill in the gap for measuring well-being at sub-national levels by estimating indexes at the county level. Exactly how the level of urbanization and social well-being are related is the subject of our inquiry. Our estimations will focus on urban counties, with particular emphasis on the 50 largest counties. We aim to evaluate the well-being of the general population in metropolitan areas, comparing it to those for female heads of households and people of color.
