Suburban poor outnumbered their city counterparts for the first time last year, with more than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty ($15,577 for a family of three in 2005), according to a Brookings Institution study of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas released Thursday.

According to the study, Milwaukee was at 24.9 percent poverty, while its suburbs were at 5.1 percent. To compare, Chicago had 19.9 percent below poverty and its suburbs 7.9.

The poverty rate in cities (18.8 percent) is still higher than in the suburbs (9.4 percent). But the overall number of people living in poverty is higher in the suburbs, mainly because of population growth.

Cleveland had the highest poverty rate last year, at 32.4 percent, while San Jose had the lowest, at 9.7 percent.

Suburban McAllen, Texas, was the suburb with the highest poverty rate last year, at 43.9 percent, while suburban Des Moines, Iowa, had the lowest, at 3.7 percent. Des Moines has a suburb? I know you were thinking the same thing.

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