Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

The Concentrated Poverty indicator measures the percentage of the population that falls below the federal poverty line threshold, which is updated annually and reported in the U.S. Census. Poverty strongly influences well-being, at the individual level. Individuals who experience poverty, especially consistently throughout their life-course, are at a greater risk of unemployment, obesity, and a host of other chronic illnesses. Furthermore, those who grow up in high poverty neighborhoods are less likely to escape from poverty, especially if they live in low-income neighborhoods during adolescence, and into adulthood. Hence, the effect of place-based poverty is also consequential. As the distribution of poverty and affluence has become more spatially isolated throughout the United States, social and financial capital has also become more concentrated, which impedes the ability for many poor Americans, to access ladders of opportunity. For example, neighborhoods with higher rates of poverty have high demand for expensive social services, which often significantly underserve local residents. Also, high poverty neighborhoods typically have higher preventable deaths, lower life expectancies, more environmental hazards, and poor quality school systems. Furthermore, freeways and other busy roadways often run through low-income neighborhoods resulting in disproportionately higher exposure to noise and air pollution. Data for this indicator is available from the U.S. Census.