COLUMBUS, Ohio — Urban centers are no longer the front lines in the war against poverty.
A new Brookings Institution study shows the number of poor people living in suburbs increased 64 percent between 2000 and 2011.
The number of poor in urban areas increased at a much slower rate of 29 percent, challenging the assumption that American poverty primarily exists in inner-city slums.
The report says the number of suburban in the Columbus area grew by nearly 90 percent since 2000 while the number inside the city limits grew by less than 76 percent.
The government spends about $82 billion a year on anti-poverty programs, but most of that funding is used to improve conditions in urban areas.