America's Best Cities=America's Whitest Cities?

When presented with the "Area Descriptions" of cities in Southern California, I was very shocked.  I had no idea that government agencies collected this type of data, and then presented it in this light.  Referring to people as "uniformly of poor quality," especially in the west (which i had always considered generally less racially segregated and more accepting) angered me, but also made me uncomfortable.  I started to think more about this topic, racial geographic separation and its effects on local real estate practices and economic productivity.  Every year CNN Money releases their list of the best 100 U.S. cities to live in, based on housing prices, education, crime rates, and other factors. Below are the top 5 for 2009:

1. Louisville,CO

2. Chanhassen, MN

3. Papillion, NE

4. Middleton, WI

5. Milton, MA

I cross-referenced these cities with the most recent U.S. Census data (which I know is problematic for many reasons, but is the best source of racial demographic information), and found that all of these cities have very skewed population statistics.  Louisville is 91% White and 0.9% African-American, Chanhassen is 94% White and 0.75% African-American, Papillion is 93% White, Middleton is 92% White, and Milton is 85% White.  This is compared to a United States population that is 79% White and 13% African- American.  These statistics suggest that CNN Money's best cities to live in 2009, are also the country's whitest.

Similarly to CNN's rankings, Forbes releases a list of "America's Most Miserable Cities."  Their top rankings included Detroit, MI, Stockton, CA, Flint MI, and New York, NY.  All of these cities have populations that are less than 45% white (and without Stockton, over 25% African-American).

Given these very public ratings and descriptions of U.S. cities, it seems that very little has changed in the evaluation of the quality of American cities.  It seems that "higher quality" cities are also the whitest, and the "lower quality" cities have greater minority representation. Perhaps we have only become a little more P.C.  Should we be concerned with this? Assuming the answer is yes, how can news agencies and publications work to improve?