BROOKINGS: An analysis of data on neighborhood poverty from the 2005–09 American Community Surveys
and Census 2000 reveals that:
■ After declining in the 1990s, 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. By the end of the period, 10.5 percent of poor people nationwide lived in such
neighborhoods, up from 9.1 percent in 2000, but still well below the 14.1 percent rate in 1990.
■ Concentrated poverty nearly doubled in Midwestern metro areas from 2000 to 2005–09,
and rose by one-third in Southern metro areas. The Great Lakes metro areas of Toledo,
Youngstown, Detroit, and Dayton ranked among those experiencing the largest increases in
concentrated poverty rates, while the South was home to metro areas posting both some of
the largest increases (El Paso, Baton Rouge, and Jackson) and decreases (McAllen, Virginia
Beach, and Charleston). At the same time, concentrated poverty declined in Western metro
areas, a trend which may have reversed in the wake of the late 2000s housing crisis.
■ The population in extreme-poverty neighborhoods rose more than twice as fast in suburbs
as in cities from 2000 to 2005–09. The same is true of poor residents in extreme-poverty
tracts, who increased by 41 percent in suburbs, compared to 17 percent in cities. However,
poor people in cities remain more than four times as likely to live in concentrated poverty as
their suburban counterparts… (more)
