{"id":48,"date":"2018-06-19T11:52:47","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T11:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/still-on-the-edge\/?p=48"},"modified":"2018-06-29T14:00:02","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T14:00:02","slug":"in-dallas-the-rich-get-richer-and-the-poor-get-poorer-rings-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/still-on-the-edge\/2018\/06\/19\/in-dallas-the-rich-get-richer-and-the-poor-get-poorer-rings-true\/","title":{"rendered":"In Dallas, ‘The Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Poorer’ Rings True"},"content":{"rendered":"

KERA\u2019s One Crisis Away project has looked at life on the financial edge in North Texas for five years \u2014 five years that have seen an economic boom in North Texas. To mark that milestone, our new series, “Still On The Edge,” will revisit families we\u2019ve met over the years and look at new research.<\/em><\/p>\n

KERA’s Courtney Collins talked with Frances Deviney of the Center for Public Policy Priorities about how despite the boom, North Texas still struggles with poverty and inequality.<\/p>\n

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With a low unemployment rate and hot housing market, North Texas boasts of having one of the country\u2019s strongest economies. But new research<\/a>\u00a0on Dallas County from the Communities Foundation of Texas and the Center for Public Policy Priorities paints a different picture.<\/p>\n

In 1999, median household income in Dallas County \u2014 where 50 percent of residents make more and 50 percent make less \u2014 was nearly $62,000.<\/p>\n

In 2015, it had dropped to just under $52,000.<\/p>\n

“It was a stark decline that we weren\u2019t even expecting when we did this analysis,”\u00a0said Frances Deviney, chief operating officer at the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s huge. In Texas, it was only 2 percent,” Deviney said. “We couldn\u2019t believe the massive drop that was happening in Dallas County and what it meant for people\u2019s opportunities.”<\/p>\n

Listen to the full interview in the audio player at the top of this page, or read interview highlights below<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 1999, median household income in Dallas County was nearly $62,000. In 2015, it had dropped to just under $52,000.<\/p>\n
Communities Foundation of Texas and the Center for Public Policy Priorities research<\/div>\n
<\/i>Tweet this statistic<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Interview Highlights<\/h5>\n

On the connection between low unemployment and slipping income<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s really something that we\u2019re seeing not just in Dallas County but across the country. What happened particularly in Texas is that after the Great Recession, we saw a great loss of good middle-wage jobs. You could have one job and pay for your family \u2014 put food on the table, put gas in the car, get the school supplies, everything you needed. It might not be a luxurious life, but you could have the basic needs. And the jobs that came back to fill those lost jobs were lower-paying jobs \u2014 jobs that maybe didn\u2019t have health insurance, that didn\u2019t pay the same wage. And so families were then having to work two jobs or have a side hustle.<\/p>\n

According to the report,\u00a0there are\u00a0<\/span>293,000 Dallas County households who have a\u00a0home mortgage. Nearly\u00a0<\/span><\/span>100,000 of them spend 30 percent or more of\u00a0their income on\u00a0housing<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Of the 430,000 renters in Dallas County, nearly half\u00a0<\/span>of them spend more than one-third of\u00a0their income on rent.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

On income disparity in Dallas County<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was a pretty big income decline for the people who made the least amount of money, and a big income increase for the people who made the most money. Old story, we’ve heard that before: \u201cThe rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.\u201d And that\u2019s definitely the story in Dallas. What was surprising was when you compared it to Texas overall, even the lowest incomes over a 10-year period saw a little bit of an increase \u2014 bigger for the people who made more money, but they still saw an increase. Whereas in Dallas County, the bottom four-fifths of earners saw decreases and it was only that top fifth, that top 20 percent, that saw an increase.<\/p>\n