wrong side of the tracks

plural wrong sides of the tracks

1. idiomaticThe part of town that is not inhabited by the wealthy. An area where the working class, poor or extremely poor live.

   He grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, but he made a success of himself.

   3 more examples

   An arc electric light has been put toward the north side of the depot, […] As one gentleman expressed it, the people can more quickly see that they are on the "wrong side of the track."

   1893 June 29, “City and Vicinity”, in The Burlington Free Press and Times, volume 50, number 154, page 8

   “Can you come over to the wrong side of the tracks?” she asked, an amused dryness underscoring the delivery of that question. “Always.” “I was, of course, referring to geographical matters. You live in the more chic part of Kreuzberg.”

   2011, Douglas Kennedy, The Moment, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 173

   Mr. McKenzie rose to prominence in the early 2000s playing Ryan Atwood, a brooding, musclebound teenager from the wrong side of the tracks who moves in with a wealthy family in Newport Beach, Calif.

   2022 March 31, David Yaffe-Bellany, “Ben McKenzie Would Like a Word With the Crypto Bros”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: other side of the tracks, wrong side of town