A fourth of all Americans live in what the U.S. Census Bureau calls "poverty areas," neighborhoods where at least 1 in 5 people have incomes below the poverty level, according to a new report based on the 2010 Census.
The share of people living in these poverty areas fell during the 1990s but grew substantially over the first decade of the 2000s.
As of 2010, it is up to 25.7 percent, from 18.1 percent in 2000. (In 1990, it was 20 percent.)
In Arkansas, the percentage of people living in poverty areas rose to 38.8 percent in 2010 from 23.1 percent in 2000, according to the report.
While not all people living in such areas are poor, they find themselves in areas riddled with problems.
"Problems associated with living in poverty areas, such as, higher crime rates, poor housing conditions, and fewer job opportunities are exacerbated when poor families live clustered in high-poverty neighborhoods," the report said.
Some government assistance programs allocate more resources to poverty areas based on the Census Bureau's definition.
In 14 states, at least 30 percent of residents are living in poverty areas.
In Mississippi, nearly half the population -- 48.5 percent -- lives in a poverty area. The rate is lowest in New Hampshire, where 6.8 percent of residents live in poverty areas.
Only four states -- Louisiana, West Virginia, Hawaii and Alaska -- saw the rate of residents living in poverty areas decline over the first decade of the 2000s.
North Carolina saw the biggest expansion, with 31.8 percent living in poverty areas in 2010, up from 14 percent in 2000.
A Section on 07/03/2014