Chicago Pays Billions for Continued Segregation

Racial and economic segregation costs Chicago about $8 billion in annual GDP, according to a report from the Metropolitan Planning Council and the Urban Institute.

The high degree of segregation in Chicago is "not new information" in itself, a researcher told Chicago Tonight. But its effects—as felt in the areas of economic growth, educational attainment, and crime rates—have now been more thoroughly quantified.

For example, the report notes that the Chicago region could earn $4.4 billion more in income if it were only as segregated as the current national median. But without a change in course, even that level of desegregation could take until the year 2070. Researchers at MPC and the Urban Institute will now begin studying potential policy actions that could accelerate that pace.