Low-Income Households and Neighborhood Choice: Causes and Consequences

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, there has been a notable shift in the spatial distribution of poverty in metropolitan areas in the United States from the urban core to the suburbs. Although a large body of literature has examined the rise in suburban poverty, relatively little is known about the causes and consequences associated with growing suburban economic distress. Low-income suburban households face unique challenges, particularly with regard to transportation. The car-centric nature of many suburban areas means that low-income suburbanites must negotiate the challenges of automobile ownership—and its attendant costs —to a far greater extent than their urban counterparts. This research finds that there was a large movement of low income households out of central city neighborhoods between 1999 and 2015. High income households also suburbanized, keeping the percentage of low income households similar. Car-owning suburban-to-urban movers were 70% more likely to become carless than households that made an intra-suburban move. Similarly, carless households that made a move in the “opposite” direction—from an urban area to the suburbs—were 35% more likely to become car owners than those who moved within an urban neighborhood.