An estimated 11.3% of the people in the six-county Chicago region lived below the federal poverty level in 1997, a slight increase over 1989, according to the most recent county-specific data available from the U.S. Census Bureau.

For 1999, the Census Bureau reported that 8.6% of residents in the 13-county Chicago region lived below the poverty level, while 10.4% of the Illinois population lived below that level (using a three-year average for 1997-99). In the Chicago region’s central cities, the percentage living below poverty was 13.4%. Tracking poverty levels within the region provides a measure of whether different communities are sharing economic prosperity equally.

The number of concentrated low-income census tracts in the region decreased 12% during the 1990s, from 247 to 217, while the percentage of residents living in those tracts dropped 22%. The share of residents living in concentrated low-income census tracts dropped from 8% in 1980 to an estimated 5.6% in 1999 (from 556,870 in 1990 to 436,948 in 1999). The number of concentrated low-income tracts was reduced in the City of Chicago, but it expanded in the suburbs.

The number of concentrated high-income census tracts — where a majority of residents have household incomes starting at 200% of the region’s median — has more than quintupled since 1980 from 28 to 142. Widespread separation by income within a region can contribute to longer commutes, diminished social interaction and difficulty in attracting lower-wage employees to high-income areas. Concentrations of low-income households can also reduce opportunity for those families while reducing resources available for local schools and other tax-supported services.