Re-Emergence of Concentrated Poverty: Metropolitan Trends in the 2000s

Posted by on November 21, 2011

Extreme poverty reaches the suburbs

A new report from the Brookings Institution analyzes metropolitan trends on concentrated poverty in urban areas since 2000, finding that “after substantial progress against concentrated poverty during the booming economy of the late 1990s, the economically turbulent 2000s saw much of those gains erased.” In general, the report found that the population in extreme-poverty neighborhoods — where at least 40 percent of individuals live below the poverty line — rose by one-third from 2000 to 2005-09. Concentrated poverty nearly doubled in Midwestern metro areas from 2000 to 2005-09, and rose by one-third in Southern metro areas. The population in extreme-poverty neighborhoods rose more than twice as fast in suburbs as in cities from 2000 to 2005-09. Compared to 2000, residents of extreme-poverty neighborhoods in 2005-09 were more likely to be white, native-born, high school or college graduates, homeowners, and not receiving public assistance. However, black residents continued to comprise the largest share of the population in these neighborhoods (45 percent), and over two-thirds of residents had a high school diploma or less. The authors observe that the strong economy of the late 1990s did not permanently resolve the challenge of concentrated poverty, and therefore recommend policies that foster balanced and sustainable economic growth at the regional level and that forge connections between growing clusters of low-income neighborhoods and regional economic opportunity.

See the report: http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2011/1103_poverty_kneebone_nadeau_berube.aspx