Emerging Patterns of Growth and Change in the Southeast

Research on economic growth and change in the South has traditionally focused on disparities between wealthy suburbs and impoverished rural areas. Focusing on the economic duality of the South belies the fact that most places are middle class with standards of living that approximate those of the country as a whole. This research uses a k-means clustering technique and incorporates recent data to show that a two-tiered hierarchy of middle class counties has emerged alongside the traditional rich/poor, rural/suburban dichotomy.