http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 60366/1003

Poverty rate rises sharply in suburbs

Metro Detroit's inner ring, and those around the U.S., deals with more elderly and immigrants.

Brad Heath / The Detroit News

February 16, 2006

They are among the wealthiest and best-educated parts of the country, but the suburbs nearest to Detroit and the nation's other major cities also increasingly are strained by sharp increases in immigration and poverty, a report released Wednesday concluded.

Among the most striking threats, Brookings Institution researchers said, was that while the nation's poverty rate has generally dropped, the rate in the nation's inner-ring suburbs increased during the 1990s. Similarly, while households nationwide saw their incomes grow markedly during that decade, people in inner-ring suburbs did not.

"In a lot of ways, these communities are success stories. They are some of the most healthy, stable and vital municipalities in the country," Brookings researcher Robert Puentes said. "But there are significant warning signs. Poverty is one of those."

The report, based on the 2000 U.S. Census, traces the fate of the nation's "first suburbs," communities that sprang up from forests and farmlands as people began draining out of cities more than 50 years ago. Among its findings:


The percentage of people in inner-ring suburbs who have graduated from college -- almost a third nationwide -- is well above the national average.


People in those communities are also more likely than others to be employed, and have higher incomes.


Inner-ring suburbs, once overwhelmingly white, are now more diverse than the nation. They also are attracting more immigrants; they are home to more immigrants than are the major cities they surround. That has been evident in Metro Detroit, where large numbers of immigrants have settled in Dearborn, Hamtramck and other cities.


The elderly population in inner-ring suburbs is increasing nearly twice as fast as in the nation as a whole over the past 50 years.