"Poverty Traps" In The Wealthiest Country On Earth.

The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America by Michelle Wilde Anderson talks about the problem of “citywide poverty” where incomes are depressed across much of the town, not just in small pockets.

"Even before the Great Recession, citywide poverty was a growing problem. Between 2000 and 2009, there was a 31 percent increase in the number of municipalities, counties, and census-designated places where at least one in five people live under the poverty line. In 2020 numbers, the term “poverty line” stands for the hard reality of a family of four living on less than $26,246 per year—less than $2,200 a month in pretax income. The Foreclosure Crisis made matters worse, by divesting so many low- and middle-income homeowners of both their home and their only economic asset.
Places of citywide poverty vary. Some are big cities, small cities, or historic suburbs. Others are rural. Some vote blue, others red. Some are nearly all white, all Black, all Latino, or all Native American. Some are the most diverse communities in America. Racial and ethnic violence, segregation, and discrimination helps explain how some border-to-border poor places developed, and why they remain poor."

Read an excerpt: Literary Hub