The cost of living in Oakland is well above national averages. A person
moving from Chicago to Oakland would pay approximately 11 percent
more for groceries, 47 percent more for housing, 6 percent more on
healthcare, while the cost of utilities will go down by about 20 percent.
This will have something to do with the severity of Chicago’s winters and
the cost of heating fuel (CNNMoney.com March 2009). At the same time,
26.6 percent of Oaklanders under the age of 18 live below the poverty line
(Figure 16.3).
Figure 16.3 Percent of population living below the poverty line in the U.S. and Oakland, by
age
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2007
It is no surprise that there is inequality in school funding, nor is it
difficult to trace the connection: richer districts provide more of
everything, from audiovisual equipment to classroom assistants, while
higher salaries make it possible to hire the best teachers
In Oakland, only 6.5 percent of the school population is Anglo, while
Latinos and African Americans together make up about 70 percent of the