Suburban Piedmont Areas Led National Poverty Rate for More Than a Decade

North Carolina's 12th Congressional District led the nation in poverty for about 11 years.

A recent report by the Brookings Institution, reflects a growing number of people in several Piedmont suburban communities lived at the national poverty level.  This is a public policy research group based in Washington, D.C.

The 12th Congressional District runs from Charlotte to parts of Greensboro and Winston-Salem. Democrat Mel Watt represents it in the U.S. House.

According to the Brookings report, the 2000 U.S. Census counted 621 poor people in the suburban parts of the district. In 2011, that population increased to 4,740.