SUBURBAN POVERTY SURGES

Americans typically think of poverty as an urban issue. But in the 1990s, poverty in suburbia began to accelerate at a faster rate than poverty in the cities. Sometime after the 2001 recession, more poor people lived in suburbs than in cities for the first time (even though the poverty rate remains higher in cities). The Great Recession, set off by a subprime mortgage crisis that began in suburbs and exurbs, accelerated the trend. In 2011, the suburban poor outnumbered the urban poor by three million; from 2000 to 2011, the number of poor people soared by 64% in the suburbs, compared with 29% in cities. Today nearly one-third of all Americans are poor or nearly poor, and one in three poor Americans lives in the suburbs.

Source: New York Times, 5/20/13, Suburban Poverty