To classify whether an area is rural, urban, or suburban, census information takes the number of housing units, distance from the airport, the presence of group quarters, and more to define the three geographic areas.

Population determiners for categorization include: Urban – at least 2000 housing units or a population of at least 5000. Any area with less is classified rural. Suburban is defined as an area that surround  a city, which is an area of over 1 million people.

The poverty rates of these geographic areas vary among themselves. Rural areas consistently show higher poverty rates, household incomes are often lower in urban areas, and some suburban poverty has seen a significant and rapid increase, even surpassing city poverty levels.

Rural Poverty Characteristics

• Higher rates compared to urban areas.
• Disproportionately high poverty rates for Black/African American and American Indian/Alaska Native populations.
• Limited access to jobs and social services.

Urban Poverty Characteristics

• Concentrated neighborhoods, limited job opportunities, high cost of goods and services.
• Access to services are complex, cost of living is high (food, necessities).

Suburban Poverty Characteristics

• Rapid growth
• More poor residents than cities
• High cost of housing in the cities
• Complexity of providing services

Poverty Definitions

• Operational – Observed in practice, providing specific and practical methods for measurable data collection.
• Conceptual – Broad, theoretical, and abstract  Source: ers.usda.gov, 2021

The U.S. poverty level is determined by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) annually. In 2025, the basis for determining the poverty line was dependent on:

1. Income – before taxes
2. Family Size – number of family members
3. Family Composition – number of children and age of adults
4. Annual Adjustments – thresholds updated each year
5. No Geographic Variation – applies to all states

Household income guidelines include:

1. One person – 15,650
2. Two family members – 21,150
3. Three family members – 26,650
4. Four family members  – 32,150
5. More than eight family members – add 5,500

Types of Poverty

A multifaceted condition of lacking essential necessities for a dignified life, defined either in absolute terms or relative terms. It also encompasses broader social and political factors, such as powerlessness, exclusion, lack of opportunity, and limited access to education and healthcare, highlighting poverty’s impact on human dignity and societal participation.

• Absolute – When a household income is below a certain level making it impossible to meet basic needs of life including food, shelter safe drinking water, education, healthcare, etc.
• Relative – When a household has money but still not enough to afford anything above the basics. Source: Bourassa, C., Relative and Absolute Poverty,  ebsco.com, 2021

Characteristics of Poverty

• Inability to meet the basic needs (food, clothes, and shelter).
• Low accessibility to other basic needs (health, education, sanitation, clean water, and transportation).
• Insufficient and secure income.
• Lack of decent work.
• Suffering from emotional turmoil (fear, pain, and shame).
• Struggle to cope, adapt, and fight against the conditions of their lives.
• Lack of control over one’s life.
• Socially maltreatment (prejudice and social exclusion).
• Institutional maltreatment by individuals, communities, institutions, government, and systems. Source: Bray, B. et.al., Realism Poverty in All Its Dimensions…, sciencedirect.com, October 2020

Historical and Recent Trends

The recent trend that shows higher poverty rates in rural and urban areas compared to the suburbs is noteworthy. Since 2015, suburban poverty is experiencing the fastest growth in recent years. Historically, rural areas consistently had higher poverty rates than urban ones. In 2019, rural areas still had a higher overall poverty rate of (15.4%) than urban areas (11.9%) ers.usda.gov, 2021

Suburban areas have seen the most dramatic in crease in poverty with the number of poor people in the suburbs growing significantly faster than in urban and rural areas. Suburban poverty now represents the largest share of the poor populations, in the U.S. surpassing cities.   Sources: goodwiil.com, 2015    brookings.edu, 2017   populationeducation.org, 2023

Key Factors

• Demographic Shifts -The rise in suburban poverty is often linked to lower-income people being pushed out of cities by higher housing costs. Source: brookings.edu, 2017
• Growing Scale of Suburban Property – While cities still have high poverty concentrations, the growth of the poor population in suburban areas is a significant trend. Source: pewreseaech.org, 2018

Summary

• The poverty gap between rural and urban areas continues to narrow.
• Suburban areas now house the largest portion of the poor population. Source: ers.usda.gov, 2021

Comment

I chose to research rural, urban, and suburban poverty because I firmly believed that

rural areas had greater poverty rates. To my surprise, I was wrong. Based on trends

during the past ten years, suburban poverty has increased each year. Housing

affordability and the high cost of living in urban areas continues to keep the

U.S. poverty rates in double-digits.

Knowing that suburban poverty rates are increasing, it is imperative that suburban city

and town governments recognize the challenges and come up with solutions to the

problem.