Southern poverty has grown in an extreme way within America's post-recession landscape, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution.
Of the 15 metro areas where poverty is expanding at the greatest rates, nine are located in the South, with four in North Carolina and another three in Florida.
Metro areas include cities and their surrounding suburbs, where poverty has been expanding fastest.
The Brookings report analyzes the poverty levels in metro areas, examining the change between 2000 and the period of 2008-2012, which includes an average from a five-year Census estimate and shows the effect of the recession.
Business Insider previously looked at the Brookings report to see which U.S. cities had rapidly expanding poor neighborhoods. This analysis looks at the metro areas that saw the biggest overall increases in poverty. To do so, we ranked metro areas based on the change in poor population from 2000 through the 2008-2012 average.
For the year 2013, the Census set the poverty level at $12,119 for a single person under the age of 65 and $24,028 for a family of four.
10 (tied). North Port, Florida
77% growth in poor population
50,921 — Poor population in 2000
90,285 — Average poor population from 2008-2012
Sarasota County, home of North Port, has experienced a major spike in poverty since the start of the recession, particularly for those under 18, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reported in 2011, citing its own analysis of Census data. That analysis found the poverty rate jumped to 13.1% from 8.1% between 2007 and 2010.
Based on a Brookings report comparing 2008–2012 to 2000.
10 (tied). Greensboro-High Point, North Carolina
77% growth in poor population
65,798 — Poor population in 2000
116,501 — Poor population average from 2008-2012
The percentage of poor people living in Greensboro — home of several universities including Guilford College and a branch of the University of North Carolina — is nearly 19%, higher than both the state and overall U.S. level.
The city and its surrounding areas are part of the 12th Congressional district, which saw the nation’s biggest increase in suburban poor people between 2000 and 2011, according to a previous Brookings Institution report that the Raleigh News & Record reported on last year.
Based on a Brookings report comparing 2008–2012 to 2000.
9. Orlando, Florida
81% growth in poor population
169,317 — Poor population in 2000
307,240 — Average poor population from 2008-2012
Orlando — a city many associate with the "happiest place on earth," Disney World — has more than 18% of its residents living below the poverty level compared with 15.6% for the state. In 2011, the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting found the number of kids in Orlando living in poverty had spiked 50% since before the recession.
Based on a Brookings report comparing 2008–2012 to 2000.
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