The 13 most unequal places in America, ranked
- Income inequality in America has increased in every state since the 1970s, a 2018 report published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found.
- In the resort town of Jackson, Wyoming, the most unequal metro area in America, the richest 1% make 132 times more, on average, than the bottom 99%.
- The New York City-Newark-Jersey City metro area ranks 13th on the list.
- Five of the 13 most unequal metro areas are in Florida.
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Income inequality in America has been rising in every US state since the 1970s, found a 2018 report published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
In the report, researchers looked at 2015 tax return data to analyze the average income of the top 1% and the bottom 99% of a population, broken down by state, metropolitan area, and county.
As compared to the commonly used Gini coefficient measure of inequality, EPI's measure captures very high incomes better because, as the report notes, "it represents all the taxable income people earn in market transactions, such as the income earned from working for a wage or salary at a job, through interest on a savings account, or from selling a financial asset for more than its purchase cost (a capital gain)."
The report found that the most unequal metro area in America is the resort town of Jackson, Wyoming, where the average income of the top 1% is more than $16.1 million, and the average income of the bottom 99% is $122,447.
Below, Business Insider has ranked the 13 most unequal metro areas in the US, based on the EPI report, including the average income of the top 1%, the average income of the bottom 99%, and the top-to-bottom ratio.
Here are the most unequal places in America.
Andy Kiersz contributed to reporting.