In metros including Atlanta, Charlotte, and Nashville, a quarter of all high-poverty neighborhoods are located in low-density areas on the outskirts of town, a shift from the idea of inner-city poverty.
Through the latest State of the Nation’s Housing report, the Harvard Joint Center says that the rates of poor people and poor neighborhoods are rising the fastest in exurbs.
The number of high-poverty neighborhoods doubled in the nation’s exurbs between 2000 and 2015, and the number of poor people living in exurbs rose from 1.5 million to 3.9 million during the same time frame.
Such growth presumably was due to the fact that housing generally is less expensive in these areas, but the savings in housing costs are often offset by higher transportation costs and more time spent traveling to work and other activities.
PB Topical Ref
