Poor In Suburbs Outnumber Those In Cities, Study Claims

Many of America's cities have grown and prospered over the last few decades, showing surprising declines in poverty and crime rates.

America's iconic suburbs, however, have shown a dissimilar trend, so much so that there are now more poor people living there than in urban centers, according to a new analysis from the Metropolitan Policy Program of the Brookings Institution. The federal poverty level for a family of four is an annual income of $23,550.

As the poor population has surged throughout the nation since the turn of the century, the number of poor people living in suburbs grew 67 percent between 2000 and 2011 -- a much bigger jump than in cities. The "War on Poverty" that was begun by Lyndon Johnson 50 years ago faces a very different battlefield today, and public policy should shift to reflect that, the study finds.

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