Where incomes have risen most

While the nation's poverty declined, the southern California metropolis saw its poverty rate grow 3 percent. Another poor performer: San Diego. Among the 50 largest metro areas, San Diego experienced the largest decline in the Mumford rankings: from No. 19 in 1990 to No. 36 in 2000.

Since then, the high-tech debacle and the national recession have weakened the state further. "We are just beginning to recover, but the decline was so large that it will probably take another six months before we get to some period of normality," says Mario Belotti, an economics professor at Santa Clara University, in the heart of California's Silicon Valley.

Even northern California hasn't escaped unscathed. In a little over a year, Santa Clara County has seen its unemployment skyrocket from 1.6 percent to 7.4 percent, Dr. Belotti says. The county's unemployment rate now stands above the national average, a statistic unthinkable for most of the '90s.

The decade also proved difficult for metro areas in the Northeast. Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y.; Bergen-Passaic, N.J.; Newark, N.J.; and New York City and its suburbs all fell in the Mumford rankings.

Meanwhile, metro areas in the Midwest and the South prospered. Detroit and its suburbs jumped from the 36th spot to No. 21 in the Mumford index. Even the city itself, despite losing population in the '90s, saw significant increases in income and reductions in poverty.

More impressive – though perhaps less startling – was Austin, Texas. It notched the highest increase in median income of any of the nation's 50 largest metro areas. It also recorded the largest drop in poverty. On the Mumford index, Austin's ranking rose from No. 40 to No. 15.

What made the 1990s relatively healthy economically for many states was its broadly based prosperity. True, the rich got richer: During the decade, the number of households earning (roughly) $200,000 or more a year rose by 40 percent or more in all but two states. But this time, the benefits began to trickle down to the poor. Abundant jobs boosted their incomes, especially near the end of the decade, and pushed many out of poverty.

In the upper Midwest, in particular, states saw dramatic declines in family poverty, according to the new census data. Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin saw their rates fall by at least two percentage points – a huge decrease. Michigan topped them all with nearly a three-point drop: 10.2 percent to 7.4 percent.

But in other areas, despite the rise in incomes, the poverty rate went up. Rhode Island showed a huge 2.1-point increase (6.8 to 8.9). Hawaii's rate jumped 1.6 points; California, 1.3 points. Even fast-growing Nevada saw a slight increase.

These increases explain why the US poverty rate for families dropped less than a point (from 10.0 percent to 9.2 percent) – a modest decline at a time when the economy was doing so well.

In New York City, a shift toward lower-paid workers in the private sector and on city payrolls meant the division between rich and poor grew even wider.

"The top went through the roof, and the bottom went through the floor," says Moshe Adler, senior economist with the nonprofit Fiscal Policy Institute in Manhattan.

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