Released: August 2, 2012 The Middle Class Shrinks and Income
Segregation Rises In 1980, 23% of U.S. lower-income households
lived in majority low-income neighborhoods; in 2010, that had
risen to 28%. At the other end of the economic scale, the share
of upper-income households living in majority upper-income
neighborhoods doubled, to 18% in 2010 from 9% in 1980, according
to a new Pew Research Center income segregation report based on
census data. Income segregation also rose over the same time
period in 27 of the nation’s 30 largest (in terms of households)
metropolitan areas, according to the report, “The Rise of
Residential Segregation by Income,” written by Paul Taylor and
Richard Fry. It includes data on income segregation comparing
those 30 metropolitan areas, as well as interactive maps. The
increase in income segregation is a contrast to the long decline
in black-white racial segregation in neighborhoods. Why would
income segregation be rising? The major reason is that the share
of neighborhoods that a