CATHERINE RAMPELL - New York Metro Area Has Highest Inequality in Country
November 3, 2011 By CATHERINE RAMPELL | New York Times
http://beta.finance.yahoo.com/news/york-metro-area-highest-inequality-162501626.html
It's probably no wonder that the "Occupy" movement began with Wall Street: the New York metropolitan area has the highest inequality in the country, according to a new report from the Census Bureau.
The report, by Daniel H. Weinberg, analyzed income data at various geographical levels and found that the region encompassing New York, northern New Jersey, Long Island and parts of Pennsylvania had the highest income inequality of any large metro area.
New York State also has the highest income inequality of all 50 states (although Washington, D.C., was worse).
Below is a map showing three measures of income inequality for each state: the Gini index (which ranges from 0.0, when all households have equal shares of income, to 1.0, when one household has all the income and the rest has none); a ratio of household income at the 90th percentile to that at the 10th percentile; and a ratio of household income at the 95th percentile to that at the 20th.
In all cases, a higher value means greater inequality.
After New York, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas have among the most unequal income distributions. At the low end are New Hampshire, Alaska and Utah, which is the most economically homogenous state in the nation.
Utah's capital, Salt Lake City, also has the lowest income inequality of any major American metro area. The most unequal, as mentioned above, is New York, followed by Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla.
Mr. Weinberg's report also has inequality measures down to the neighborhood level, which I recommend checking out. Remember, though, that fewer people are surveyed in such small places, so the margin of error is much greater.