The cities with the five highest ratios were Atlanta (18.8), San Francisco (16.6), Miami (15.7), Boston (15.3), and Washington, D.C. (13.3).
The cities with the five lowest ratios were Virginia Beach (6.0), Arlington, Texas (7.3), Mesa, Arizona (7.5), Las Vegas (7.7), and Wichita, Kansas (7.7).
The ratio in 2012 for the United States as a whole was 9.1 and researchers found that 31 of the 50 largest cities had higher ratios than the national average.
The Brookings Institution researchers note there are a variety of reasons for inequality. San Francisco’s wealthy are extremely wealthy (they speculate that rising housing prices may have pushed many poor people out of the city). Miami’s poor, on the other hand, are very poor.
Using the same data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, one can calculate the ratio for Connecticut’s cities. Ratios range from a low of 7.66 in Danbury to a high of 12.68 in Hartford. For comparison, the table below also includes the 2007 ratios, which shows how the recession affected income inequality.
City
|
2007
|
2012
|
change
in 20%
|
change
in 95%
|
||||
20%
|
95%
|
ratio
|
20%
|
95%
|
ratio
|
|||
Bridgeport
|
17,098
|
136,501
|
7.98
|
15,077
|
140,860
|
9.34
|
2,021
|
(4,359)
|
Danbury
|
27,089
|
194,311
|
7.17
|
24,119
|
184,706
|
7.66
|
2,970
|
9,605
|
Norwalk
|
33,872
|
278,519
|
8.22
|
28,463
|
250000
|
8.78
|
5,409
|
28,519
|
Stamford
|
35,670
|
393,783
|
11.04
|
31,017
|
250000
|
8.06
|
4,653
|
143,783
|
Hartford
|
11,286
|
112,733
|
9.99
|
9,436
|
119,685
|
12.68
|
1,850
|
(6,952)
|
New
Britain
|
17,393
|
118,027
|
6.79
|
12,452
|
136,694
|
10.98
|
4,941
|
(18,667)
|
New
Haven
|
15,523
|
132,910
|
8.56
|
13,147
|
156,964
|
11.94
|
2,376
|
(24,054)
|
Waterbury
|
16,069
|
126,606
|
7.88
|
15,672
|
135,618
|
8.65
|
397
|
(9,012)
|
