Which name unlocks the door? The effect of tenant race/ethnicity on landlord response

Two Internet experiments investigated how the race/ethnicity and gender of prospective tenants impacted landlord response. Among males, Asian American tenants fared best, receiving 45.2% positive responses. Hispanic and White tenants received a similar number of positive responses (34.7% and 34.0%, respectively), while the African American tenant received the fewest (16.0%). In general, female prospective tenants received more positive responses than did male prospective tenants (40.8% vs. 27.1%); among females, White and Asian American women received more positive responses (67.3% and 60.8%, respectively) than did Hispanic (43.1%) and African American (41.2%) women. The experiments indicated that prospective tenants were more likely to receive positive responses when their race matched that of the neighborhood in which the apartment is located.