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Recent criticisms of the coherence of theories of gentrification, the potential for its continued expansion in the 1990s, and methods for assessing its extent and significance have cast doubt on the utility of further research on the subject. This paper presents an empirical analysis of how gentrification altered the socioeconomic profile of the inner areas of four US cities between 1960 and 1990. Field surveys are conducted to delineate areas of visible housing reinvestment in Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Washington, DC. Stepwise discriminant analysis of tract-level census data indicates that the degree to which gentrification reverses the urban status gradient is mediated by the context in which the process occurs. While restricted in magnitude, gentrification inscribes remarkably similar changes in socioeconomic composition in different cities and signifies a new and distinct dimension of urban socio …