American suburbs no longer represent American Dream

Herbert Hoover, ex American President, in 1928 proclaimed that In America today, we

are nearer a final triumph over poverty than is any other land. It was the time when America
was witnessing an evolution in the way Americans perceived economy and living standard.
Leading on to 1950s, the real transition took place which saw a number of middle class families
move to suburbs from big metropolis. They did so with the hope of escaping the crowds,
financial deprivation, class discrimination, rotten urban infrastructure, pollution, high crime rate
and poor schools of big cities. The idea of American dream found its conception in the suburbs
where families lived together happily in a nice house, education, environment and job. This
conception of American dream surfaced in post World War II era. Bernadette Hanlon, an
assistant professor at Knowlton School, writes about that era that The very pursuit of happiness
in post-war history was synonymous with the suburbs. A move to the suburbs symbolized many
things in the American context. It was a move of social and economic mobility: a path that led
away from the nations ailing central cities and to the emergent suburban frontier. The American
Dream was realized in the nations nascent suburbs (Baxandall and Ewen).
However the advent of twenty first century brought about the end of this brand of
American dream; the dream which in Cheryl Hiness words, an American Actress, was the
suburbs are the American dream, right? Living in a nice house, having a good job, a happy
family. The decade saw two economic recessions which brought about poverty to all sections
and sectors of American economy. Soon the policy makers started programs to eliminate poverty
which largely remained urban-centric. The cities began to recover while suburbs got ignored due
to lack of adequate infrastructure and measures. As Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube write
in Confronting Suburban Poverty in America that, Despite the fact that poverty in America

still conjures images of inner-city slums, the suburbanization of poverty has redrawn the
contemporary American landscape (Kneebone and Berube). In an article published in The
Economist in July 2013, it was noticed that suburbs are homes to Americas biggest and fastestgrowing population. In this paper I will state the factors behind the rising suburban poverty;
which indicate that the suburbs of America are no longer a manifestation of American dream.
The most evident manifestation that suburban poverty is distorting the American dream
can be the fact that 16.5 million of Americans living in suburbs are living below the poverty line.
In the decades when America saw suburban boom and evolution, the idea persisted that the
majority of the poor population lived in cities than suburban areas. But findings by Rockefeller
Foundation state otherwise. According to a report published by the foundation titled Suburban
Poverty in the United States, the poverty growth rate in suburbs has surpassed the rates in the
urban areas. In the past decade the rise of poverty in suburbs has been sixty four percent as
compared to the cities where it has been twenty nine percent (Suburban Poverty in the United
States). As I mentioned above that suburbs, considered as a resort for middle class for good
living, are today themselves entangled in the same menace with no escape. As Ken Johnson, a
demographer at University of New Hampshire says that, Suburban areas are no longer just
homes to middle- and upper-income households (Sanburn). Take an example of Atlanta in
which whose Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology, was named amongst
the best schools in America by U.S. News and World Report (Semuels). But today Atlanta
suburbs do not just signify good schools, clean housing, and roads. They are known for having a
majority of its population growing poor day by day. According to estimates, eighty right percent
of poor population in Atlanta live in its suburbs (Sanburn). Following factors indicate that, today
an American suburb is a contradiction of American dream.

One of the major factors behind suburban boom was costs and quality of living. The
suburbs offered cheap living through the way of mortgages. Before recession, due to this reason
many people shifted into suburbs in the hope of subsidized living. But when the recession struck,
these areas suffered the most specially, the costs of living. The two main suburban industries
construction and manufacturing abolished many of its job vacancies in the time period of 20072010 (Baxandall and Ewen). The increasing costs of gasoline and daily commodities are also a
cause behind the changing living preferences. These factors made the costs of living and owning
a house unaffordable for the suburban population. People who moved into suburbs with the
hopes of affordable living are now under monetary pressure. Another feature of suburban life
was its quality of living. Spacious houses with moved lawns and clean surroundings. But today
the picture is quite contrary to it. Take an example of Norcross, a suburb in Georgia, was named
as one of the best places to live by a real estate blog named Movoto. But today most of its
population lives in aging multi-stored housing apartments with no safe environment (Semuels).
The reason behind the changing living preferences and costs in suburbs are manifold but it is not
under the scope of this paper to discuss them. However, the changing trends do indicate that
suburbs no longer represent American dream.
It is an irony that the factor which made these suburbs a perfect place to live American
dream is today one of the factors nullifying it. One of such factors is public transportation. The
lack and slow pace of public transport system manifests that suburbs are no longer desirable
place to live. And the reason behind the inefficiency of public transport system is poverty in
suburban areas. It is not cost effective to invest in a public transport system in suburban area
where not much population uses public transport. Plus these areas are always short of budget
because of their poor output and workforce. The faulty public transport system is contributing to

the increasing rates of poverty as well. Because many people cannot afford to travel the distances
which they need to get appropriate and reasonable jobs. The absence of good transit access
makes the suburban area less desirable to live; a feature which is exact opposite to the idea of
American dream.
Last but not the least, the nature of public education in the suburban areas also manifest
that they are no longer places to live American dream in. The American dream asserts equality of
all the races where no white has dominance over Black and vice versa. But the suburban
educational landscape depicts otherwise. The increasing class and racial segregation manifest
that the suburban life is no longer a desirable one. Along with this, the nature of segregation also
varies within the suburbs. Take an example of Hempstead in Nassau county where schools
consists of seventy nine percent of low income, fifty seven percent Hispanic, three percent white,
and thirty nine percent black (Potter). It is also a mentionable that the educational districts with
less black and Hispanic enrollment are costly than the areas having majority of black and
Hispanic students. This racial segregation is another blotch on the suburban life.
I would like to end my paper with Confuciuss quote that, In a country well governed,
poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be
ashamed of. The need of the hour is to tackle this growing menace of poverty in the American
suburbs. The reform programs should not be just urban centric. The government and policy
makers put most of their efforts to redeem the cities post recession. These areas lack adequate
measures and resources to start up welfare reforms themselves. It has become a necessity to start
up a national suburban reform program so that the majority of poor living in these areas also get
live the true American dream; a dream which is not constricted to any place.

Works Cited

Baxandall, Rosalyn and Elizabeth Ewen. Picture Windows: How the Suburbs Happened. Basic
Books, 2000.
Kneebone, Elizabeth and Emily Garr. "The Suburbanization of Poverty." Metropolitan Policy
Program (2010).
Kneebone, Elizebath and Alan Berube. Confronting Suburban Poverty in America. Brookings
Institute, 2013.
Sanburn, Josh. The Rise of Suburban Poverty in America. 31 july 2014. 18 April 2015
<http://time.com/3060122/poverty-america-suburbs-brookings/>.
Semuels, Alana. "Suburbs and the New American Poverty." The Atlantic 7 januaray 2015.
"Suburban Poverty in the United States." 2013.