Poverty, quite obviously, is still a bigger problem in the city than the suburbs, but a new report from Brookings says the rate of poverty is increasing in suburbs more than cities. The number of “distressed” neighborhoods has grown by 78 percent in the 2000’s, with much of that increase coming in the suburbs.
Of poor residents living in concentrated poverty in the nation’s 100 largest metro areas, 26 percent lived in the suburbs in 2008-2012, up from 18 percent in 2000, the report says.
The largest increases appear to be in the Sun Belt states.
While it ranks 88th out of 100, the Twin Cities is hardly immune. The number of poor people increased by more than 68 percent since 2000.