The knowledge of the socio–residential structure of Latin American cities that do not integrate their large metropolitan systems, well into the second decade of the 21st century, is still a debt of human geography. Its simple harmonization to what is observed in their metropolitan areas, which are mostly used as a study and modeling subject, seems insufficient to establish urban policies that contribute to a balanced residential–social setting. This article seeks to contribute to the production of this knowledge, communicating the main results of a research on the socio–demographic factors associated with continuity and change, registered in the last decade of the twentieth century, in the socio–residential structure of the city of Viña del Mar, a Chilean city of approximately 350.000 inhabitants.