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Race Equity Trends > Housing and Neighborhoods

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High and Extreme Poverty Map

Higher levels of poverty experienced in Lincoln’s more diverse neighborhoods
A high poverty area is defined by the USDA as an area where greater than 20% of residents live below the poverty level¹. Living where poverty is concentrated between 20% of households (high poverty) and 40% of households (extreme poverty) is the point “where neighborhood poverty begins to negatively affect individual well-being for area residents regardless of their own poverty status.”¹ In these areas, poverty’s effects, such as reduced opportunities for economic advancement, become “more structurally and demographically systemic,” and often also more persistent and enduring over time.1

Census tracts classified as extreme poverty areas are those with more than 40% of residents in poverty.

At this concentrated level of poverty, individuals residing in such neighborhoods are more likely to experience poor housing and health conditions, higher crime and high school dropout rates, as well as isolation from employment opportunities. 2

There are 17 census tracts in Lincoln that exceed the 20% high poverty threshold, and three of these census tracts exceed the 40% extreme poverty threshold.

  • All three census tracts classified as extreme poverty areas are near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln city campus and have higher than average percentages of adult residents enrolled in college than Lincoln as a whole.
  • Two of the census tracts classified as extreme poverty areas (5 and 19) have an unemployment rate much higher than the overall rate for Lincoln, while the other (18) has a slightly lower unemployment rate than the city.
  • All three census tracts classified as extreme poverty areas have high school graduation rates comparable to the overall Lincoln average.
  • Tracts 5 and 18 have a higher percentage of people of color than Lincoln overall.
    • Tract 19 has a slightly higher proportion of White population than Lincoln overall.
Notes

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 5-year estimates, Table S1701.

Footnotes
  1. USDA, Economic Research Service. (n.d.) Poverty Area Measures- Background and Uses. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/poverty-area-measures/background-and-uses/
  2. USDA, Economic Research Service. (2023). Rural Poverty and Well-Being. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rural-poverty-well-being/