Work

The Causal Effect of Gun Violence on Everyday Mobility Patterns Across US Neighborhoods

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Gun violence takes an enormous toll on neighborhoods and their residents in important ways. While research has identified that violence makes neighborhoods less appealing and livable, few studies have fully quantified the effect of violence on neighborhoods’ vitality and dynamism. In this study, we introduce the notion of ‘neighborhood activity,’ which we measure by the unique number of everyday visitors those neighborhoods receive from residents of other neighborhoods. Drawing on a large geographically-coded dataset of 30,000 gun violence incidents across US neighborhoods in conjunction with daily mobility pattern data based on 45 million mobile devices, we apply a quasi-experimental method to estimate the impact of gun violence on the number of visitors neighborhoods receive. We find that gun violence reduces neighborhoods’ visibility significantly, but its consequences are disproportionately distributed among non-White neighborhoods that are far less popular to begin with. Our estimation results indicate that gun violence cost neighborhoods approximately 9 million visitors in the year 2019 alone.

Source: Spatial Demography

DOI: 10.1007/s40980-025-00139-1

Authors: Karl Vachuska, Masoud Movahed

Institutions: University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Pennsylvania

Language: English

Topic: Gun Ownership and Violence Research

Subfield: Health

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Sustainable cities and communities, Reduced inequalities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,190