side of the tracks

the wrong side of the tracks

A part of a town or city that is particularly impoverished (and usually dangerous or undesirable as a result). "Tracks" refers to railroad tracks, which are sometimes thought of as demarcating different economic areas of a town. I was always looked down on as a kid because I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. His mother didn't want him dating anyone from the wrong side of the tracks.
See also: of, side, track, wrong
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

side of the tracks

see under right side of the tracks.
See also: of, side, track
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • other side of the tracks
  • the other side of the tracks
  • the wrong side of the tracks
  • wrong side of the tracks
  • wrong side of the tracks, the
  • the right side of the tracks
  • right side of the tracks
  • from the wrong side of the tracks
  • from/on the wrong side of the tracks
  • on the wrong side of the tracks
References in classic literature
Sometimes we slopped along in a narrow path on the left-hand side of the track, but by and by when the fog blew as aside a little and we saw that we were treading the rampart of a precipice and that our left elbows were projecting over a perfectly boundless and bottomless vacancy, we gasped, and jumped for the ties again.
Fully forty or fifty feet was on each side of the track, and though the weight which it dragged had thinned it, it was as thick round as a man's body.
On either side of the track, if it deserve the name, was the thick 'bush;' and everywhere was stagnant, slimy, rotten, filthy water.
The ape-man followed the trail to the railway where it ended abruptly on the west side of the track, showing that the girl had boarded the train, just as he thought.
It seems, however, that there must have been some short cut for those who knew it, for before I had reached the road I was astounded to see Miss Stapleton sitting upon a rock by the side of the track. Her face was beautifully flushed with her exertions and she held her hand to her side.
By the side of the track the old dame was standing, fastening her red whimple once more round her head.
A majority of Metra riders who take the train into Chicago will be able to purchase their tickets, wait for and catch the train from the same side of the tracks, he added.
The chancellor is destroying the hopes and dreams of clever kids born on the wrong side of the tracks, unless he reverses cuts to universal credit to support working families.
By robbing poor Peters to pay for tax cuts of wealthy Pauls the Chancellor is destroying the hopes and dreams of clever kids born on the wrong side of the tracks.
It tells the true story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and their rise to stardom from the wrong side of the tracks.
"The Strange Side of the Tracks" is the story of Lonnie Tobin, who is one such young man.
"In my own small way I have been something of a role model for kids from the wrong side of the tracks."
Video footage on the Dogan News Agency website showed the crushed minibus on the side of the tracks and medics trying to reach the injured.
PC Nick Cannon, the investigating officer, said: "The freight train was approaching Green Lane Bridge when the driver saw three pedal cycles lying at the side of the tracks.