The Evolution and Landscape of Under-Resourced Communities in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

The authors introduce a new measure of concentrated disadvantage that captures the spatial clustering of poverty. Using U.S. Census Bureau data from 1980 through 2019, the authors show how under-resourced communities have evolved in U.S. metropolitan areas. The share of metropolitan residents who reside in under-resourced communities has steadily grown over time. This upward trend cannot be explained by changes in residents’ economic or demographic characteristics. Yet areas experiencing declining economic conditions, aging populations, and rapid ethnoracial change have had the largest increases. Although under-resourced communities continue to be concentrated in central cities, their incidence in suburban areas has nearly doubled since 1980. Under-resourced communities are becoming more racially diverse, not just because of broader ethnoracial change, but because shrinking shares of Blacks and expanding shares of Whites and Hispanics/Latinos reside in these areas. However, Black residents continue to make up a large share of under-resourced community residents. The broader implications of these patterns are also discussed.