Growing isolation of poor helps explain changes in concentrated poverty

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Concentrated poverty — neighborhoods where 40 percent of the population or more lives below the federal poverty level — is back on the rise for all races in the United States, according to Penn State demographers.

Growing residential separation and isolation of the poor in American metropolitan areas, as well as overall increases in poverty since the early 2000s, explain most of the change in concentrated poverty, they added.

In the 1980s, concentrated poverty rose, but eased in the 1990s. However, the latest figures suggest that a rise in concentrated poverty has returned, according to John Iceland, professor of sociology and demography and research associate in the Population Research Institute.