Map of income inequality in the United States

[IndyPragmatist]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/11/inequality?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/washingtonsrichbutthe1areelsewhere

Pretty interesting that the midwest has the most equal income distribution, while the south and California seem to have the highest income inequality.

Here are some metro areas gini coefficients.(Larger number means more income inequality)

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH Metro Area: 0.473
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area: 0.459
Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metro Area: 0.456
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX Metro Area: 0.472
Jacksonville, FL Metro Area: 0.460
Las Vegas-Paradise, NV Metro Area: 0.440
Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area: 0.461
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA Metro Area: 0.483
Lubbock, TX Metro Area: 0.468
Mayagüez, PR Metro Area: 0.583
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL Metro Area: 0.500
Midland, TX Metro Area: 0.506
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area: 0.439
New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA Metro Area: 0.483
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA Metro Area: 0.501
Oklahoma City, OK Metro Area: 0.460
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area: 0.471
Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area: 0.465
St. Cloud, MN Metro Area: 0.402
St. Louis, MO-IL Metro Area: 0.454
San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA Metro Area: 0.458
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area: 0.472
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area: 0.452
Santa Fe, NM Metro Area: 0.501
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area: 0.464
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area: 0.434

[atreides1]

1. And yet

The people in the most unequal areas keep voting Republican for the most part!:wtf:

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. God will provide

I wish I was making it up, but it also tracks with right to work and bible belt.

[WestSeattle2]

2. Looks like areas that have union representation also experience

equality in incomes.

[FarCenter]

7. The MidWest counties with high equality look like rural counties

Largely agricultural and small towns. Not too much union representation there.

[libinnyandia]

8. midwest rural counties

A lot of midwest counties probably have relatively low average incomes compared to the bog cities, with fewer extremely poor and fewer extremely rich.

[closeupready]

9. Lot of auto workers and feeder industries, though.

nt

[Duer 157099]

3. Isn't that also an indirect measure of geographical desirability?

The wealthy choose not to live in certain areas and I think this map demonstrates that.

[stevenleser]

5. Very interesting. Based on the Gini coefficient

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient



The Gini coefficient is a measure of the inequality of a distribution, a value of 0 expressing total equality and a value of 1 maximal inequality. It has found application in the study of inequalities in disciplines as diverse as sociology, economics, health science, ecology, chemistry, engineering and agriculture.<3>

It is commonly used as a measure of inequality of income or wealth.<4> Worldwide, Gini coefficients for income range from approximately 0.23 (Sweden) to 0.70 (Namibia) although not every country has been assessed.




The Gini coefficient is usually defined mathematically based on the Lorenz curve, which plots the proportion of the total income of the population (y axis) that is cumulatively earned by the bottom x% of the population (see diagram). The line at 45 degrees thus represents perfect equality of incomes. The Gini coefficient can then be thought of as the ratio of the area that lies between the line of equality and the Lorenz curve (marked 'A' in the diagram) over the total area under the line of equality (marked 'A' and 'B' in the diagram); i.e., G=A/(A+B).

The Gini coefficient can range from 0 to 1; it is sometimes expressed as a percentage ranging between 0 and 100. More specifically, the upper bound of the Gini coefficient equals 1 only in populations of infinite size. In a population of size N, the upper bound is equal to 1 − 2 / (N + 1).

A low Gini coefficient indicates a more equal distribution, with 0 corresponding to complete equality, while higher Gini coefficients indicate more unequal distribution, with 1 corresponding to complete inequality. To be validly computed, no negative goods can be distributed. Thus, if the Gini coefficient is being used to describe household income inequality, then no household can have a negative income. When used as a measure of income inequality, the most unequal society will be one in which a single person receives 100% of the total income and the remaining people receive none (G=1); and the most equal society will be one in which every person receives the same income (G=0).

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My integral calculus is a little rusty. Going to take me a little while to wrap my head around what (as in how significant) a difference between .4 and .5 means.

[catabryna]

6. These figures have been around longer than my son...

and, he's nearly 11. I'd be curious to see something a little more recent. I would imagine that to some extent the pattern is similar but, our economy is completely different than it was back in 2000.