Several perspectives dominate as explanations for neighborhood preferences: pure race, racial proxy, racebased neighborhood stereotyping, and race-associated neighborhood factors. This analysis extends and supports the pure race and race-associated neighborhood factors arguments by showing that these theories are applied differently depending on respondents' social class, race and ethnicity, and whether they are talking about white, black, or Latino neighborhoods. Race-associated factors are emphasized for white and black neighborhoods, but pure race serves as a better theoretical framework for understanding people's preferences for Latino neighborhoods. I analyze qualitative interview data, using maps of real neighborhoods and hypothetical neighborhood show cards, to examine the neighborhood preferences of 65 white, black, and Latino residents in Ogden, Utah, and Buffalo, New York.

In this article, I explore different forms of perceived threat posed by the presence of minority groups and how threat impacts residential segregation and neighborhood preferences. I extend previous research by exploring non-Hispanic white residents' preferences regarding black and Latino neighbors using qualitative data from in-depth interviews with white adults conducted in multiple neighborhoods in Buffalo, New York, and Ogden, Utah. My findings suggest that white residents perceive threat differently for blacks and Latinos. In general, blacks and Latinos elicit crime threat but Latinos also elicit concerns about a cultural threat to dominant American culture. I distinguish between perceived threat in neighborhood preferences based on: (1) perceived threat to individuals surrounding personal safety and neighborhood conditions and (2) perceived threats to national identity and economic well-being of the state. Several studies have looked at the role of cultural threat in how whites perceive racial and ethnic minorities; however, few studies look at how this threat affects neighborhood preferences specifically. Studying blacks and Latinos sheds new light on how multiple forms of perceived threat affect whites' neighborhood preferences.

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