Poverty Heads to the Suburbs

"More consequential to a far larger group is the mass out-migration of impoverished people from center cities into the suburbs, often in the same metropolitan areas. According to a recent Brookings Institute Study, the process is accelerating. Between 2000 and 2008, the percent of poor people living in the suburbs increased by 25%, compared to by 5.6% in central cities and 15.4% for the nation as a whole. More of the poor now live in the suburbs than in central cities: 12.5 million versus 11 million.

The out-migration of the lower-middle class has been just as notable."

As a population heavily reliant on public social services and transit, the transition from centralized inner cities to decentralized suburbs will likely result in many needs going unmet.