Catherwood LibraryILR School

Despite a recent White House report indicating that the U.S. economy is recovering strongly from the Great Recession, both it and another report from the Economic Innovation Group admit that the recovery has occurred unevenly, resulting in ever-increasing wealth and income inequality gaps that are geographically prominent. Communities that were previously well-off have rebounded robustly, while previously “distressed” communities are now worse off than they were before. The EIG report has mapped economic conditions in 25,000 zip codes, grading them on seven factors of distress – the number of adults without high-school degrees and who are not working, the number of vacant houses, poverty rate, median income comparisons, and the prevalence of business and job opportunities. The report shows that the bottom fifth of U.S. zip codes had their median income reach 68% of the state-wide median, while 27% of adults live in poverty. These communities also saw employment decrease by 6.7% during the recovery while more fortunate communities were recuperating.