![](http://archive.cnu.org/sites/www.cnu.org/files/imagecache/newsthumb/tinycnu23_logo_1.gif)
Reality Check on Urban Poverty
![MLewyn's picture MLewyn's picture](http://archive.cnu.org/sites/www.cnu.org/files/pictures/picture-194.jpg)
I've read some stories suggesting that poverty is decreasing in cities and increasing in suburbs. Urbanists see this alleged trend as evidence that cities are becoming more popular; egalitarians see it as evidence that gentrification is driving the poor into suburbia.
Last week's poverty data suggest that such commentary is a bit wrongheaded, for two reasons. First of all, most major cities have poverty rates higher than the national average. The national poverty rate is 15.9%, and even relatively gentrified cities like Boston (21.6%), New York (21.2%) and Portland (17.7%) have higher rates. (Data by city here).
Second, even relatively prosperous cities have far more poverty than their suburbs. For example, San Francisco has a poverty rate of only 15% - but its suburbs have only a 10.1% poverty rate. Similarly, Washington, DC's poverty rate (18.2%) is still far ahead of the suburban poverty rate (7.1%) (Data here in "Data Appendix" link).
Admittedly, the economic gap between cities and suburbs has narrowed slightly in many metro areas- but even so, cities still have far more than a fair share of regional poverty.
Comments
Write your comments in the box below and share on your Facebook!