Concentrated poverty in the neighborhoods of the nation's largest urban cores has exploded since the 1970s.
The number of high poverty neighborhoods has tripled and the number of poor people in those neighborhoods has doubled according to a report released by City Observatory [3]...
As Gizmodo explains, [4] the following maps created by Palmer use red and green arrows to indicate growth in wealth and poverty between 1970 and 2010. Green lines point down to indicate a decrease in poverty, while red lines slope up to represent a growth in poverty. Their length indicates the size of the change.
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Map source: LabratRevenge.com [11]
As City Observatory concludes, [3]
[3]To be poor anywhere is difficult enough, but a growing body of evidence shows the negative effects of poverty are amplified for those who live in high-poverty neighborhoods - places where 30 percent or more of the population live below the poverty line. Quality of life is worse, crime is higher, public services are weaker, and economic opportunity more distant in concentrated poverty neighborhoods.
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Critically, concentrated poverty figures prominently in the inter-generational transmission of inequality: children growing up in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty have permanently impaired economic prospects.
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Read the full dismal report here (and remember stocks are at record highs and initial jobless claims at 40 year lows)... [3]PDF here [13]
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While there are obvious patterns of green and red in very city, the overall trend is telling: poverty is very much on the rise.
