Congressional districts led by Democrats often have higher poverty rates, but Republican districts have a higher total number of poor residents.
CityLab analyzed a new report on poverty from Elizabeth Kneebone, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program. She found that poverty rates affected both political parties, and spreads across urban areas and suburbs.
Red districts have 25.1 million people living in poverty, compared with 22.7 million in blue districts. The poverty rate in Democratic districts is higher, 17.1 percent to 14.4 percent.
Not only is poverty already deep in blue districts, it’s also becoming more concentrated: 22 out of the 31 districts that saw their shares of low-income residents increase to twice the national average were Democratic.
