Distressed communities index by U.S. county
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The large parts of the United States left behind by today’s economy.
Kim Hart
American geographical economic inequality is growing, meaning your economic opportunity is more tied to your location than ever before.
Some facts:
– 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.
– 57% of the national rise in business establishments and 52% of employment growth from 2011-2015 were in prosperous areas.
– Most of the 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.
– Half of the 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.
– The healthier the economy, the healthier the person – people in distressed communities die five years earlier.
Via axios.com
What jumps to the eye is that most distresses communities are south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Some distresses communities elsewhere, but this looks very much like the map of the states which broke away from the Union in 1861. ,