Suburban Poverty on the Rise

Metropolitan suburbs have seen the largest and fastest-growing poverty rates in America over the past decade, according to a study released this week by the Brookings Institution.

 
The new geographic reality means that federal policies geared towards rural poverty "are no longer well matched" to the nation's needs, with poverty affecting nearly as many residents in Republican congressional districts as Democratic districts.
 
Poverty grew in 388 districts with the industrial Midwest, the Intermountain West and the South hit the hardest by growing poverty with the metropolitan areas surrounding Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee hit particularly hard because of manufacturing job losses, while Atlanta, Charlotte, Las Vegas, and Phoenix were hit hard by the housing market collapse.