By Kim Hart | Axios
What that means: U.S. geographical economic inequality is growing, meaning your economic opportunity is more tied to your location than ever before. A large portion of the country is being left behind by today’s economy, according to a county-by-county report released this morning by the Economic Innovation Group, a non-profit research and advocacy organization. This was a major election theme that helped thrust Donald Trump to the White House.
Key findings:
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New jobs are clustered in the economy’s best-off places, leaving one of every four new jobs for the bottom 60% of zip codes.
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57% of the national rise in business establishments and 52% of employment growth from 2011-2015 were in prosperous areas.
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Most of today’s distressed communities have seen zero net gains in employment and business establishment since 2000. In fact, more than half have seen net losses on both fronts.
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Half of adults living in distressed zip codes are attempting to find gainful employment in the modern economy armed with only a high school education at best.
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The healthier the economy, the healthier the person — people in distressed communities die five years earlier.
The map: The fastest growing western cities (such as Gilbert, Ariz., and Plano, Texas) and “tech hubs” (Seattle, San Francisco, Austin) dominate the list of the most prosperous cities in the country. Cities that were once industrial powerhouses in the Midwest and Northeast are now more likely to be on the distressed end of the spectrum, like Cleveland and Newark.
