U.S. Geographic Inequality Worsening – Have You Experienced This Economic Gap Between Have and Have-Not Cities?

What’s the story?

• Geographic inequality - the gap between rich and poor communities – is growing wider.
• A report from the Economic Innovation Group found that four-fifths of rural counties in the U.S. have fewer businesses than they did before the financial crisis, while cities with large tech industries and/or research universities (Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston) are prospering.

“Their analysis confirms the decline of America’s once-sturdy middle-class neighborhoods, and the splitting of the nation into areas of concentrated advantage, juxtaposed with areas of concentrated disadvantage,” Citylab explained.

• “We’ve never really seen this type of concentration, where truly the lion’s share of the benefits of a recovery — nationally speaking — are accruing to a relatively narrow swath of places,” EIG president and CEO John Lettieri told VentureBeat in a phone interview.

“We see that prosperity and resiliency go hand in hand.”

What does the EIG “Distressed Communities Index” measure?

The report examines how “prosperous” or “distressed” each zip code in the U.S. is based on seven factors:

• The percentage of a community’s adult population with no high school diploma.
• Housing vacancy rate.
• Percentage of adults not working.
• Poverty rate.
• Median income ratio.
• Change in employment.
• Change in the number of business establishments over the last five years.

What do you think?

Are you concerned about America’s growing geographic/spatial inequality? How should Congress stem the decline of once-sturdy middle-class neighborhoods? Take action above, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com / Peeter Viisimaa)