There was once a time–known as Jim Crow–when blacks and whites were mandated by law to live, eat and attend school separate from each other. Even though Jim Crow laws were abolished in the early 1960s, it hasn’t stopped residential segregation. Census data from 2010 has confirmed that blacks and whites still tend to live in their own neighborhoods, often far apart from each other. Using this data, Salon compiled a list of the 10 most segregated cities in the country. The rankings are based on a dissimilarity index, a measure used by social scientists to gauge residential segregation. A score of one indicates perfect integration while 100 indicates complete segregation.

Los Angeles: Segregation level: 67.84

Though Los Angeles is hugely diverse, it is also greatly segregated. Blacks and Latinos and more likely to live near one another, but their separation from white neighborhoods persists. Segregation between Asians and whites are about 20 points lower than that of blacks, mostly due to the temporary segregation of immigrants living in ethnic district. Almost 20 years after the 1992 L.A. riots, segregation continues to confine blacks to region’s most dangerous neighborhoods and jobless ghettos.

See the full list at The Atlanta Post

(Photo: Melissa Jean Miller/BET)