The New York Times says experts from Metropolitan Policy Program of the Brookings Institution analyzed census figures for the new report on American poverty.
It includes statistics from New York and New Jersey.
Thirty-three percent of suburban residents in the New York metropolitan area are living below the federal poverty level. In 2000, the figure was 29 percent.
Among the New Jersey municipalities mentioned in the report where poverty climbed:
Bayonne, Bergenfield, Clifton, Edison, Garfield, Hoboken, Lakewood, Linden, Mount Olive, New Brunswick, Passaic, Paterson, Perth Amboy, Raritan, Summit, Teaneck and Woodbridge. It also mentioned Hunterdon County.
The report's authors say the suburbs are now home to the "fastest growing poor population in the country."
Traditionally, the poor have been concentrated in big cities and rural America.