Ronald P. Formisano

As the middle class shrank, residential segregation by income increased. Neighborhoods across the country became less diverse, with fewer middle-class families living next to low-income families.

As Stanford University researchers Sean Reardon and Kendra Bischoff point out, the rich take resources with them: better schools, parks, and public services gravitate to upscale neighborhoods, resulting in “greater disadvantages for the remaining neighborhoods where low- and middle-income families live.”