One in four residents live in low-income neighborhoods or concentrated poverty. Poverty has been increasing in the Indianapolis region, as it has in many Midwestern metropolitan areas. In 2017, 14 percent of Central Indiana residents lived below the poverty threshold, compared to 9 percent in 1970.
In many Indianapolis neighborhoods, the poverty rate is much higher. One fifth of the region’s residents live in low-income neighborhoods—census tracts with poverty rates of 20 to 39 percent. 80,000 residents live in areas of concentrated poverty, with poverty rates of at least 40 percent.
