The patterns of poverty in the Denver urban area show that rates are higher in the inner suburb and the core city and lower in the outer suburb. Table 1 below shows that the inner district is the area with the highest rates of poverty in Denver, at 19% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). The inner area also has a smaller median household income of $52,440 which is less than that of the core city and outer suburb (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). This shows that lower incomes correlate with higher levels of poverty. The area that has the highest median wage has the lowest poverty rates in the urban area.
Table 1: Census data for Denver urban area.
Table 1 above shows that poverty rates are highest in the inner suburb while the median household income is low. This is different from the outer suburb and the core city, which have lower rates. The variance can be explained by the low unemployment rates in Westwood, Co. Areas that have a high number of jobless individuals are more likely to experience significant cases of poverty (Chang et al., 2022). This is because wages ensure that people can meet various basic needs. This can be seen in the data for outer suburbs, which shows that high median household income correlates with lower poverty rates.
The population composition can also explain the difference in income and poverty levels. Areas which have a large population of people aged middle-aged adults are more likely to have higher median household incomes. This is different in areas where the majority are young adults. This is because young adults are less likely to be employed in well-paying jobs. The presence of careers with high wages in an area correlates to low poverty rates (Chang et al., 2022). This means that the Westwood area has significant poverty levels because the population is comprised of young adults.
Another factor that can explain the differences is the rising costs of living which are pushing more people into poverty. The most affected areas in Denver are the inner suburbs which face a significant risk because of other economic and social challenges. Inflation in the United States has led to an increase in costs for a variety of important basic products (Chang et al., 2022). A combination of high costs and unemployment rates has the potential of pushing more people into poverty.
An increase in housing costs has also led to more people accessing the inner suburbs because of the relatively low costs. This has caused more pressure on the existing housing infrastructure, a situation that represents more challenges for the inner suburb. This can be seen in the data, which shows that Westwood, Co. has a higher poverty rate and a lower median household income.
Another significant factor is the crime rates and delinquency in the area with high poverty rates. Even though the crime rates in Westwood, Co. have reduced, there continue to be noteworthy cases. The presence of misbehavior in an area correlates to low poverty levels. This is because lawbreaking thrives in areas where there are important economic challenges. Residents in the inner suburb are faced with rising costs of living and low unemployment rates. These are factors that can lead to individuals committing a crime.
References
Chang, J. J., Lin, H. Y., Savitski, D. W., & Tsai, H. F. (2022). Inflation and inequality in a growing economy with cash and credit goods. Macroeconomic Dynamics, 26(3), 579-612. Web.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). Explore Census Data. Web.