The line graph illustrates how many people lived in poverty across the United States between 1970 and 2015 broken down into suburbs, cities, small metros and rural areas.
Overall, there was an increase in poverty levels over the period across all groups with the exception of rural areas. Also, there was a notable increase in poverty from the year 2000.
In 1970, just over 7 million people in cities lived in poverty, a number that rose steadily, reaching a total of just under 13 million people by 2015. Poverty levels in 1970 for suburban areas were similar to those of cities at just under 7 million. These areas then saw similar steady rises in poverty to those experienced by cities. However, from the year 2000, poverty levels in suburbs rose sharply, which resulted in suburbs having more people than any other community type at a final figure of 16 million people.
At the beginning of the period, the total number of people in poverty was the lowest in small metros, at just over 5 million. As was the case for cities and suburbs, this number rose over the period and reached almost 10 million by 2015. In contrast, poverty in rural areas saw a slight decrease over the period, falling to slightly under its opening level of 8 million by the end of the period.