The Decline and Disappearance of the Middle Class Neighborhood

A new study observes the growing economic and income divide’s impact on America’s neighborhoods. Researchers have found the proportion of Americans living in 'middle class' neighborhoods declining, while 'rich' and 'poor' neighborhoods are growing.

1 minute read

October 20, 2013, 7:00 AM PDT

By Kasper_O_Koblauch


“[The] growing physical separation of the rich and poor is hastening the decline of middle-class neighborhoods," writes Maxwell Strachan "and could make income inequality even worse.” 

A recent study by Kendra Bischoff of Cornell University and Sean F. Reardon of Stanford University warns that "the ‘segregation of families by socioeconomic status’ -- i.e., the rich living among the rich and the poor living among the poor -- has increased at a rapid clip in recent decades," continues Strachan.

“The growing divide has been especially striking in the country’s black and Hispanic communities, where the rich and poor of each racial group are dividing from one another at a pace far quicker than in the white community.”

Wednesday, October 16, 2013 in The Huffington Post

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