Changing Contours of Suburban Poverty in Metropolitan Areas: A Demographic Analysis

Xi Huang, Georgia State University and Georgia Institute of Technology
Rahul Pathak, Georgia State University

The poverty in suburban neighborhoods of America has sharpened significantly during last decade. This is also accompanied by demographic changes in the composition of suburbs, most notably characterized by increases in size of immigrant and minority populations. However, little research has examined exact nature of demographic changes accompanying the rise of suburban poverty. This paper examines the changes over the last two decades using Census Microdata from 1990 and 2000 and American Community Survey Microdata from 2001 to 2012. We decompose the profile of suburban poor by their demographic and socio-economic characteristics and conduct cohort longitudinal analysis by age, race, and arrivals. The preliminary results suggest that there has been significant transformation of the urban-poverty landscape in the country. The suburbs host a larger share of poor households, who are increasingly from minority and immigrant groups. The place-based anti-poverty policy architecture seems ill-prepared for the changing realities of urban-poverty.