A tale of two Americas: Socio-economic mobility gaps within and across American cities before and during the pandemic

• Published in: Cities 2022-12, Vol.131, p.104006, Article 104006
• Main Authors: Sevtsuk, Andres, Basu, Rounaq, Halpern, Dylan, Hudson, Anne, Ng, Kloe, de Jong, Jorrit
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Big data; COVID-19; Mobility equity; Residential location; Smartphones; U.S. cities
• ISSN: 0264-2751; 1873-6084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2022.104006

We examine differences in mobility outcomes between residents of highest and lowest socio-economic index (SEI) at the Census block group (CBG) level in nine major US cities prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. While low-SEI groups generally traveled shorter distances but visited more city-wide CBGs before the pandemic, high-SEI residents universally reduced their mobility to a greater extent during the pandemic. Although high-SEI residents were making more trips to parks and health-care providers, and fewer subsistence trips to retail stores already before the pandemic, COVID-19 significantly widened these differences thereby exacerbating “mobility gaps” between low-SEI and high-SEI groups. We further examine how such “mobility gaps” can be mitigated by spatial advantages of home locations, controlling for political inclination. We find that living in better transit-served or more walkable neighborhoods generally benefited high-SEI residents more than low-SEI residents, with some variation across cities. This suggests that built environments not only impact mobility outcomes during “normal” times, but also influence how different socio-economic groups are able to adapt during times of crisis. •We analyze pre- and during COVID-19 mobility behavior by socio-economic status based on over 139 million individual trips in nine U.S. cities.•High-SEI residents universally reduced their mobility to a greater extent during the pandemic.•We find a broad shift to automobile travel in transit-oriented areas during the pandemic.•Neighborhoods characteristics such as walkability and transit accessibility impact travel outcomes beyond income or socio-economic status.•Unaffordability of neighborhood amenities in walkable urban districts could push low SEI residents to travel further to more affordable destinations.