  This paper analyzes the differences in poverty in high wealth communities and
low wealth communities. We first discuss methods of measuring poverty and
analyze the causes of individual poverty and poverty in the Bay Area. Three
cases are considered regarding relative poverty. The first two cases involve
neighborhoods in the Bay Area while the third case evaluates two neighborhoods
within the city of San Jose, CA. We find that low wealth communities have more
crime, more teen births, and more cost-burdened renters because of high
concentrations of temporary and seasonal workers, extensive regulations on
greenhouse gas emissions, minimum wage laws, and limited housing supply. In the
conclusion, we review past attempts to alleviate the effects of poverty and
give suggestions on how future policy can be influenced to eventually create a
future free of poverty.
