Abstract
Neighborhood context has implications for well-being across the life course. Yet the capacity to select and/or alter one’s neighborhood depends in part on one’s sociodemographic characteristics. Using three-wave longitudinal data from MIDUS (1995–2014), I examine trajectories of perceived neighborhood quality and resulting impacts for well-being across twenty years. Results indicate that (1) women, Black and other nonwhite residents, and renters report worse neighborhood quality than their peers; (2) perceived neighborhood quality declines with age for Black and poorly educated residents, but (3) improves with age for highly educated residents; (4) the overall deficit in perceived neighborhood quality among renters is weaker for Black than for White residents, while that overall deficit among the poorly educated is contingent upon having children. Lastly, (5) perceived neighborhood quality predicts life satisfaction and negative affect over two decades, with its influence on the latter contingent upon owning or mortgaging one’s home rather than renting.