Poverty is increasing in the U.S. A new series of detailed maps created by Justin Palmer plots its rise across the country.
As Palmer points out, the City Observatory reports that the number of high-poverty neighborhoods in urban areas across the U.S. has tripled since the 1970s. In the same time period, the number of poor people living in those areas has doubled.
The maps created by Palmer use red and green arrows to indicate growth in wealth and poverty between 1970 and 2010. Green lines point down to indicate a decrease in poverty, while red lines slope up to represent a growth in poverty. Their length indicates the size of the change. You can see the full set of maps here.
While there are obvious patterns of green and red in very city, the overall trend is telling: poverty is very much on the rise.
[Lab Rat Revenge via Flowing Data]