Poverty Maps

The Urban Institute uses Census data to map out the distribution of poverty by ethnicity in major metropolitan areas of the United States.  Poverty rates seem to be generally higher since 1980 and with a larger population, then the absolute number of people in poverty is much higher.  The distribution is also spreading out to the suburbs.

But the federal poverty line doesn't truly reflect the cost of living.  The Economic Policy Institute has a budget calculator to determine the cost of living in 615 US cities.