The Census began tracking inequality in the U.S. in 1967. The Gini coefficient was 0.397 then. The most recent number puts it at 0.469. Though states range from 0.419 in Utah to 0.499 in New York, America’s income divide has widened. While some are better than others, all 50 states have higher inequality than most of the developed world. 24/7 Wall St. examined the 10 states with widest gap between the rich and poor.
Scored between one and zero, the Gini coefficient is a measure used by economists to rank income inequality. Zero reflects perfect income equality, where everyone makes the same. A score of one reflects an economy where one person has all of the money and everyone else has none. Higher numbers represent significant concentrations of wealth, extreme poverty, and a limited middle class. 24/7 Wall Street
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