Suburban Poverty on the Rise Locally and Nationally

According to the Brookings Institution book Confronting Suburban Poverty in America by Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube, the number of suburban poor in the U.S. increased 64% from 2000 to 2011. The book, as discussed in the Washington Post, notes that more poor people currently live in the suburbs than in the inner cities. It offers several explanations for the suburban poverty increase, including:

1. suburban population increased 14% from 2000 to 2010 while urban population increased just 4.5% during the same time frame,
2. the percentage of suburban affordable housing increased slightly from 2000 to 2008 (from 47.3% to 49.4% of total affordable housing), and
3. the unemployed suburban population almost doubled from 2007 to 2010 (from about 3.1 million to 6.2 million).

The book’s website, confrontingsuburbanpoverty.org, provides additional information about suburban poverty in specific metro areas around the country, including Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport/Stamford. From 2000 to 2011, the number of poor increased in the:

1. Hartford area, by 19.5% in the city and 62.3% in the suburbs;
2. New Haven area, by 32.1% in the city and 52.7% in the suburbs; and
3. Bridgeport/Stamford area, by 46.7% in the city and 39.9% in the suburbs (thus providing an exception to the trend of suburban poverty outpacing urban poverty).