Positive trends in health, safety; income separation grows

The region has shown significant improvement on progress measures for health and safety. Areas of concentrated poverty were reduced somewhat, but areas of concentrated high-income households grew.

Making the Chicago region a place where economic benefits are shared was very important or a top priority for 83% of the region’s residents. Four out of five residents believe the region’s growing economy can benefit everyone, and 88% agreed that if the entire region is to prosper, then low-income neighborhoods must also prosper.

		All people and places will benefit from the region’s prosperity.

Per capita income for the region’s residents, adjusted for inflation, rose 25% between 1990 and 1998, nearly double the national rate of 13%. Per capita income rises when a region generates wealth faster than the population increases — it is a bottom-line measure of wealth creation.

Since income gains rarely fall evenly across households in a region, a good indicator of how prosperity is being shared is how fast income is growing for lower-income households. During most of the 1990s, annual income for low-income households in the Chicago region rose at three times the national rate. Incomes rose an average of 6.2% per year, compared to about 2% nationally. Income levels for the highest 20% of households also outpaced the national rate, growing at an annual average rate of 2.7% compared to 1.8% nationally.