The Divided States of America

A new interactive map from the Urban Institute highlights the poorest and most affluent neighborhoods across the United States. The map shows the neighborhoods home to the top 10% most advantaged and the neighborhoods home to the bottom 10%.

The World's Apart map uses four key indicators to determine the most advantaged and disadvantaged. These are average household income, share with college degree, home ownership rate and median housing value.

The map shows a familiar pattern across much of the United States, where cities are vastly divided into rich and poor areas. The less advantaged predominantly live in dense central urban neighborhoods, while the rich live in suburbs, well outside the limits of the city centers.

The map includes the option to view the data for the census years of 1990, 2000 and 2010. This option reveals that there has been little change over the decades. The pattern of suburban wealth and inner-city deprivation has remained largely unchanged over time and also shows that rich neighborhoods tend to remain rich and the poor neighborhoods tend to remain poor.

You can read the full-report into America's Most and Least Affluent Neighborhoods on the Urban Institute website.