This study explores the influence of neighborhood conditions on child maltreatment. Unlike previous studies conducted with protective services data aggregated to neighborhoods, this study uses a self-report measure of child abuse potential and controls for individual risk factors in a multilevel model. The survey was completed by an adult residing in each of 400 households in Cleveland (Ohio), with the sample almost equally divided between African American and European American respondents. Neighborhood impoverishment and child-care burden significantly affect child abuse potential after controlling for individual risk factors, but the neighborhood effects are much weaker than they appear to be in aggregate studies based on official child maltreatment reports. It is suggested that neighborhood characteristics may affect the child maltreatment reporting process as well as present a context in which child maltreatment potential manifests itself as an actionable event. (Contains 6 tables and 74 references.) (Author/SLD)