ABSTRACT
Central cities did better in the 1990s than in previous decades. Some cities improved in relative income citywide and many neighborhoods improved in the 1990s. Concentrated poverty neighborhoods also were less numerous in 2000 than in 1990. Each of these conditions contains seeds of hope for many cities. Despite these promising conditions, the trend continued to be an overall decline in relative median family income in central cities during the 1990s. The challenges for cities remain great, the remedies needed are numerous, and the paths that may prove useful are diverse.
