Slumburbia

More Poor People Now Live in Suburbs

Social services struggle to adjust.

The old image of blighted inner cities and affluent suburbs has been inverted. According to a report by the Brookings Institution, more poor people now live in the suburbs than in urban areas. The number of poor people living in suburbs rose by 67 percent in the last decade, far more than it rose in cities. Some of this was movement from cities to suburbs, driven by urban gentrification and the lure of cheap new suburban housing. Some people living in suburbs also fell into poverty as manufacturing jobs left. Social services have struggled to adjust to the shift, as strategies of neighborhood revitalization work less well in the suburbs, where poor people are scattered.