Focusing on blacks, the study examined the effect of neighborhood racial composition on the relationship between socioeconomic status and current fertility. The sample of 611 black and 5,027 white once-married women aged 20-29 living with their husbands was drawn from the neighborhood characteristics files of the 1970 Public Use Samples of the U.S. Census for Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Social Characteristics were measured by husband's income, education, and occupation; and residence (a set of dummy variables based on location in either a rural, urban, or metropolitan area). Minority group status was measured by a dummy variable. Neighborhood of residence was categorized into a set of dummy variables based on racial and ethnic composition: 0-15% black, 16-49% black, and 50-100% black. Control variables were wife's age, her age at marriage, her employment status (a dummy variable), and her education. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the data. Findings indicated that minority group status had an effect on fertility, an effect that varied between rural, urban, and metropolitan areas. In each area, blacks had higher fertility, but the way that the other variables affected fertility varied. In rural areas, there was an independent effect of education on fertility, and an interaction effect between income and race on fertility. In urban areas, there was an interaction effect between occupation and race on fertility. In metropolitan areas, neighborhood of residence had an independent effect on fertility. (NQ)