Poverty is rising much faster in most metro Chicago suburbs than it is in Evanston.
Poverty is rising much faster in most metro Chicago suburbs than it is in Evanston.
A new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Social Impact Research unit of the Heartland Alliance focuses on the relative growth in the percentage of suburbanites living in poverty over the past two decades.
That, coupled with the rapid growth of total suburban population, means that now half of the people in the metro area who are impoverished live in the suburbs.
Evanston, which has in the past had a poverty level substantially above that of most suburbs, has seen a smaller increase in poverty rates than most suburban communities.
While 10 percent of Evanstonians lived in poverty in 1990 and that percentage has risen to 11.8 percent — the increase in suburban poverty across the metro area has been much greater — up from 7 percent in 1990 to 11 percent now.
By contrast, 23 percent of Chicagoans lived in poverty in 1990, and that has increased only marginally, to 24 percent now.
Related document
It’s now 50/50: Chicago region poverty growth is a suburban story (Social Impact Research)