Source: City Lab
According to a new study, the gap between poor and rich regions is growing more.
Researchers from the Economic Innovation Group and the Hamilton Project of Brookings Institution analyzed data from various regions across the country, taking into account certain indicators of poverty such as unemployment, vacant housing, poverty and income.
These indicators were then organized into an index that pointed to the fact that America’s middle class has slowly disintegrated, with more families becoming rich and more families becoming poor.
Currently, 120 million Americans make up the nation’s middle class, while 106 million people live in poverty. An even smaller portion, about 86 million Americans, live in rich neighborhoods. The majority of those living in affluent neighborhoods are in the North and East of the United States, while those living in drastic poverty are also in the East, but also in the South. The study notes that the contrast between rich and poor neighborhoods is becoming more stark. More than 55 percent of those living in poverty are minorities, while they only make up 40 percent of the population as a whole, as reported by City Lab.
Read Full Story: City Lab