Immigration and Poverty in America's Suburbs

This paper examines the phenomenon of suburban poverty with emphasis on immigrant poverty. Noting that the majority of the nation's poor in the 100 largest metropolitan areas now live in the suburbs, the authors observe that "it is no longer useful to think of central cities as the primary locations of poverty in America, surrounded by concentric suburban rings of predominantly white and affluent populations."  

There are now 2.7 million foreign-born poor in the suburbs, representing 20 percent of all suburban poor. The authors conclude that "suburbs with little or no experience with either immigration or poverty face complex and unfamiliar public policy challenges."  

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