America’s poor are increasingly shifting from the cities to the suburbs, the most recent Census data show — and that’s causing problems with the way the government delivers assistance to them.
The prolonged economic recession forced millions of Americans into poverty, with nearly 15 percent of the population — or roughly 46.7 million people — living below the poverty line in 2014. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, that figure is up from about 11 percent in 2000.
These Americans tend to live in areas with a few common features, like economic dependence on the agriculture industry and an abundance of low-skilled labor. A typical high-poverty U.S. city is in the South or West, has extensive suburbs outlying the metropolitan area, and is populated disproportionately by minority residents. Of the 10 most populous metropolitan areas with the highest poverty rates, listed below, all but San Juan, Puerto Rico, fit that description.
| Metro Area | Metro Population | % People Living in Poverty | Median Annual Salary | Unemployment Rate |
| San Juan, PR | 2,297,987 | 40.9 | $28,130 | 11.7% |
| McAllen, TX | 806,447 | 34.1 | $33,260 | 7.2% |
| Fresno, CA | 948,844 | 26.9 | $42,180 | 9.7% |
| El Paso, TX | 827,206 | 23.1 | $36,410 | 4.5% |
| Bakersfield, CA | 857,730 | 22.5 | $44,400 | 10.6% |
| Modesto, CA | 784,403 | 21.7 | $42,476 | 9.0% |
| Jackson, MS | 574,998 | 19.2 | $40,280 | 4.2% |
| Augusta, GA | 575,669 | 19.1 | $41,500 | 5.5% |
| Memphis, TN | 1,337,014 | 19.0 | $41,510 | 4.4% |
| Stockton, CA | 701,050 | 18.9 | $44,100 | 8.1% |
*Poverty and salary data sourced from the 2010-2014 U.S. Census American Community Survey. Unemployment data sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Poverty rates are rising more quickly in suburbs than urban areas, the data show. The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit research and policy solution organization, reports that low-income populations in suburbs surrounding the country’s largest metropolitan areas grew 66 percent from 2000 through 2013, while urban cores saw only 30 percent growth. The cause of this can be traced back to the early and mid-2000s when suburban housing was made more affordable through housing vouchers and subprime mortgages, which gave millions of low-income Americans access to the suburbs.
When the housing bubble burst in 2007, prices plummeted, foreclosure rates rose and millions of these new suburban residents were forced into poverty. Several areas on the list of highest poverty rates were affected: For instance, Stockton, California, had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation in 2008 at 9.5 percent, according to RealtyTrac, an online resource for data about the real estate and financial services sectors.
Suburban Poverty Growth In Metro Areas With High Poverty Rates
| Metro Name | 2000 Suburban Poor Population | 2012 Suburban Poor Population | Percent Growth In Suburban Poor Population, 2000 to 2012 |
| McAllen, TX | 176,911 | 237,554 | 34.3% |
| Fresno, CA | 69,382 | 108,270 | 56.0% |
| El Paso, TX | 34,441 | 43,519 | 26.4% |
| Bakersfield, CA | 87,168 | 123,752 | 42.0% |
| Modesto, CA | 41,043 | 62,353 | 51.9% |
| Jackson, MS | 39,833 | 63,247 | 58.8% |
| Augusta, GA | 37,632 | 60,847 | 61.7% |
| Memphis, TN | 54,372 | 79,039 | 45.4% |
| Stockton, CA | 40,322 | 54,640 | 35.5% |
*Suburban poverty data sourced from the American Community Survey. Data on San Juan not available.
Compounding the financial stress on low-income suburbanites is their spatial distance from federal programs aimed at fighting poverty. These programs, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid, help America’s poorest citizens but can be difficult to access for those outside a metropolitan center.
“Much of the public safety net is focused toward urban centers,” says Anna R. Haskins, an assistant professor of sociology at Cornell University. “These programs are the main resource Americans have to address poverty.”
In McAllen, Texas, more than 85 percent of low-income residents lived outside the inner city in 2008, according to the Brookings Institute. The Medicaid and Food Stamp offices, however, are located downtown. Though they can be accessed remotely, these programs are inconvenient to access for rural residents.
In high-poverty suburbs outlying metropolitan areas, agriculture is often the primary industry. This is the case in central Californian cities in the San Joaquin Valley, a fertile area known for growing a large amount of the country’s domestic produce. Cities like Fresno, Stockton, Bakersfield and Modesto employ many in low-wage, low-skill agricultural jobs. Many of these workers live in poverty, and a high percentage of them are concentrated in high-poverty suburban neighborhoods.
In Bakersfield, for instance, companies like Grimmway Farms and the Giumarra companies that produce carrots, fruit juice and grapes are among the city’s largest employers. Agricultural jobs like these tend to pay less than jobs in industries like medicine, tech and finance, and wages for agricultural jobs are typically lower than wages for workers in the same occupations in other industries.
Agricultural and National Cross-Industry Mean Wages For Occupational Groups
| Major Occupational Group | Agricultural Sector Mean Wage | National Cross-Industry Mean Wage |
| Management | $38.88 | $52.20 |
| Business and financial operations | $25.61 | $33.44 |
| Computer and mathematical | $31.06 | $38.55 |
| Production | $12.39 | $16.59 |
| Life, physical and social science | $22.04 | $32.87 |
*Data sourced from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011-12.
Areas with high poverty rates also tend to have large minority populations. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2014 that about 26 percent of black citizens and 24 percent of Hispanics lived in poverty, compared to 10 percent of Caucasians. Many minority citizens work low-wage agricultural jobs: For instance, a 2013 California Research Bureau study found that 92 percent of California farmworkers are Latino.
The black population, too, experiences high poverty rates, especially in the South, where the Census Bureau estimated in 2010 that about 55 percent of black citizens live. According to the Population Reference Bureau, median household wealth among white households was nearly 18 times that of black households in 2011. This poverty gap is perpetuated by higher rates of homeownership among white residents, as well as higher average home values and income.
Poverty Levels By Race
|
Race and Hispanic Origin |
Total Population | Number In Poverty | Poverty Rate |
| White, non-Hispanic | 195,208 | 19,652 | 10.1% |
| Black | 41,112 | 10,755 | 26.2% |
| Asian | 17,790 | 2,137 | 12.0% |
| Hispanic (any race) | 55,504 | 13,104 | 23.6% |
Poverty data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. Numbers in thousands.
The notable outlier on the list of areas with high poverty rates is San Juan. Though in some ways San Juan is free from the factors that drive the other places on the list into poverty — for instance, its economy is primarily dependent on manufacturing and tourism rather than agriculture — it has by far the highest percentage of residents under the poverty line among the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country. San Juan also has the lowest median annual salary at $28,130.
San Juan faces a severe economic crisis and $72 billion in debt, accumulated after Congress phased out tax incentives that were once used to spur economic development by offering incentives to U.S. corporations with subsidiaries located on the island. Once the tax breaks were eliminated, Puerto Rico’s economy quickly shrank, causing widespread unemployment. However, in June 2016 the House passed the Puerto Rican Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act. This debt-relief bill, should it pass the Senate, would establish an oversight board to enforce fiscal reforms, including attempts to restructure the island’s debt, which could point to an end in sight for San Juan’s economic crisis.
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The New Faces of U.S. Poverty originally appeared on usnews.com
