A First Look at U.S. Children in Persistently-Poor Neighborhoods

Mark S. Mather, Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
Nadwa Mossaad, Population Reference Bureau (PRB)

The number of children living in poor neighborhoods increased dramatically during the 1980s and then fell during the 1990s. However, a subset of neighborhoods has been poor each decade from 1980 to 2000. These neighborhoods are particularly important because they are home to some of the country’s most vulnerable children and families. The goal of this paper is to improve our understanding of the 8.3 million children living in persistently poor neighborhoods (those with poverty rates of at least 20 % in 1980, 1990, and 2000) to investigate the unique social, economic and demographic characteristics of these communities and to provide a first look at how these neighborhoods may have changed since 2000.