The present study spans on the complexity of the metropolitan poverty phenomenon, defining it in a way it becomes a crucial aspect for the analysis of “metropolization” Latin America. In order to discover the main characteristics of the different focal poverty groups, a structural-political approach is submitted into a typology of the modalities of metropolitan poverty. As a consequence, a correlation is established between the concepts of poverty and quality of life at a regional level and a proposal is put forward regarding a different socio-economic development planning approach.