New York was the state with the greatest gap between rich and poor, with a Gini coefficient score of 0.52 in 2023. Although not a state, District of Columbia was among the highest Gini coefficients in the United States that year.

This table contains data on income inequality. The primary measure is the Gini index – a measure of the extent to which the distribution of income among families/households within a community deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. The index ranges from 0.0, when all families (households) have equal shares of income (implies perfect equality), to 1.0 when one family (household) has all the income and the rest have none (implies perfect inequality). Index data is provided for California and its counties, regions, and large cities/towns. The data is from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. The table is part of a series of indicators in the Healthy Communities Data and Indicators Project of the Office of Health Equity. Income is linked to acquiring resources for healthy living. Both household income and the distribution of income across a society independently contribute to the overall health status of a community. On average Western industrialized nations with large disparities in income distribution tend to have poorer health status than similarly advanced nations with a more equitable distribution of income. Approximately 119,200 (5%) of the 2.4 million U.S. deaths in 2000 are attributable to income inequality. The pathways by which income inequality act to increase adverse health outcomes are not known with certainty, but policies that provide for a strong safety net of health and social services have been identified as potential buffers. More information about the data table and a data dictionary can be found in the About/Attachments section.

Income InequalityThe level of income inequality among households in a county can be measured using the Gini index. A Gini index varies between zero and one. A value of one indicates perfect inequality, where only one household in the county has any income. A value of zero indicates perfect equality, where all households in the county have equal income.The United States, as a country, has a Gini Index of 0.47 for this time period. For comparision in this map, the purple counties have greater income inequality, while orange counties have less inequality of incomes. For reference, Brazil has an index of 0.58 (relatively high inequality) and Denmark has an index of 0.24 (relatively low inequality).The 5-year Gini index for the U.S. was 0.4695 in 2007-2011 and 0.467 in 2006-2010. Appalachian Regional Commission, September 2013Data source: U.S. Census Bureau, 5-Year American Community Survey, 2006-2010 & 2007-2011

Chiapas, the state with the highest share of population living in poverty, had the highest wealth inequality in the country based on the Gini coefficient as well. This index measures the deviation of the income distribution situation in a given country from a perfectly equal distribution. A value of 0 represents an ideal situation of equality, whereas 1 would be the highest possible degree of inequality. As of 2022, Mexico City, the country's capital, had a Gini coefficient of 0.46, second highest recorded figure.

In 2023, according to the Gini coefficient, household income distribution in the United States was 0.47. This figure was at 0.43 in 1990, which indicates an increase in income inequality in the U.S. over the past 30 years. What is the Gini coefficient? The Gini coefficient, or Gini index, is a statistical measure of economic inequality and wealth distribution among a population. A value of zero represents perfect economic equality, and a value of one represents perfect economic inequality. The Gini coefficient helps to visualize income inequality in a more digestible way. For example, according to the Gini coefficient, the District of Columbia and the state of New York have the greatest amount of income inequality in the U.S. with a score of 0.51, and Utah has the greatest income equality with a score of 0.43. The Gini coefficient around the world The Gini coefficient is also an effective measure to help picture income inequality around the world. For example, in 2018 income inequality was highest in South Africa, while income inequality was lowest in Slovenia.

Graph and download economic data for GINI Index for the United States (SIPOVGINIUSA) from 1963 to 2023 about gini, indexes, and USA.

In the first quarter of 2025, almost two-thirds percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of earners. In comparison, the lowest 50 percent of earners only owned 2.5 percent of the total wealth. Income inequality in the U.S. Despite the idea that the United States is a country where hard work and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps will inevitably lead to success, this is often not the case. In 2023, 7.4 percent of U.S. households had an annual income under 15,000 U.S. dollars. With such a small percentage of people in the United States owning such a vast majority of the country’s wealth, the gap between the rich and poor in America remains stark. The top one percent The United States was the country with the most billionaires in the world in 2025. Elon Musk, with a net worth of 342 billion U.S. dollars, was among the richest people in the United States in 2025. Over the past 50 years, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has exploded, causing the gap between rich and poor to grow, with some economists theorizing that this gap is the largest it has been since right before the Great Depression.

Data on redistributive spending in the 50 American states from 1974-2012. Also includes two Gini coefficient measures, economic measures, and demographic measures.

Graph and download economic data for Income Inequality in New York County, NY (2020RATIO036061) from 2010 to 2023 about New York County, NY; inequality; New York; NY; income; and USA.

This statistic shows the inequality of income distribution in China from 2005 to 2023 based on the Gini Index. In 2023, China reached a score of ************ points. The Gini Index is a statistical measure that is used to represent unequal distributions, e.g. income distribution. It can take any value between 1 and 100 points (or 0 and 1). The closer the value is to 100 the greater is the inequality. 40 or 0.4 is the warning level set by the United Nations. The Gini Index for South Korea had ranged at about **** in 2022. Income distribution in China The Gini coefficient is used to measure the income inequality of a country. The United States, the World Bank, the US Central Intelligence Agency, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development all provide their own measurement of the Gini coefficient, varying in data collection and survey methods. According to the United Nations Development Programme, countries with the largest income inequality based on the Gini index are mainly located in Africa and Latin America, with South Africa displaying the world's highest value in 2022. The world's most equal countries, on the contrary, are situated mostly in Europe. The United States' Gini for household income has increased by around ten percent since 1990, to **** in 2023. Development of inequality in China Growing inequality counts as one of the biggest social, economic, and political challenges to many countries, especially emerging markets. Over the last 20 years, China has become one of the world's largest economies. As parts of the society have become more and more affluent, the country's Gini coefficient has also grown sharply over the last decades. As shown by the graph at hand, China's Gini coefficient ranged at a level higher than the warning line for increasing risk of social unrest over the last decade. However, the situation has slightly improved since 2008, when the Gini coefficient had reached the highest value of recent times.

The index ranges from 0.0, when all families (households) have equal shares of income (implies perfect equality), to 1.0 when one family (household) has all the income and the rest have none (implies perfect inequality). Index data is provided for California and its counties, regions, and large cities/towns. The data is from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. The table is part of a series of indicators in the Healthy Communities Data and Indicators Project of the Office of Health Equity. Income is linked to acquiring resources for healthy living. Both household income and the distribution of income across a society independently contribute to the overall health status of a community. On average Western industrialized nations with large disparities in income distribution tend to have poorer health status than similarly advanced nations with a more equitable distribution of income. Approximately 119,200 (5%) of the 2.4 million U.S. deaths in 2000 are attributable to income inequality. The pathways by which income inequality act to increase adverse health outcomes are not known with certainty, but policies that provide for a strong safety net of health and social services have been identified as potential buffers.Dataset taken from https://data.chhs.ca.gov/dataset/income-inequalityData Dictionary: COLUMN NAMEDEFINITIONFORMATCODINGind_idIndicator IDPlain Text770ind_definitionDefinition of indicator in plain languagePlain TextFree textreportyearYear(s) that the indicator was reportedPlain Text2005-2007, 2008-2010, 2006-2010. 2005-2007, 2008-2010, and 2006-2010 data is from the American Community Survey (ACS), U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS is a continuous survey. ACS estimates are period estimates that describe the average characteristics of the population in a period of data collection. The multiyear estimates are averages of the characteristics over several years. For example, the 2005-2007 ACS 3-year estimates are averages over the period from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2007. Multiyear estimates cannot be used to say what was going on in any particular year in the period, only what the average value is over the full time period (Source: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/about_the_survey/american_community_survey/).race_eth_codenumeric code for a race/ethnicity groupPlain Text9=Totalrace_eth_nameName of race/ethnic groupPlain Text9=TotalgeotypeType of geographic unitPlain TextPL=Place (includes cities, towns, and census designated places -CDP-. It does not include unincorporated communities); CO=County; RE=region; CA=StategeotypevalueValue of geographic unitPlain Text9-digit Census tract code; 5-digit FIPS place code; 5-digit FIPS county code; 2-digit region ID; 2-digit FIPS state codegeonameName of geographic unitPlain Textplace name, county name, region name, or state namecounty_nameName of county that geotype is inPlain TextNot available for geotypes RE and CAcounty_fipsFIPS code of county that geotype is inPlain Text2-digit census state code (06) plus 3-digit census county coderegion_nameMetopolitan Planning Organization (MPO)-based region name: see MPO_County List TabPlain TextMetropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) regions as reported in the 2010 California Regional Progress Report (http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/offices/orip/Collaborative%20Planning/Files/CARegionalProgress_2-1-2011.pdf).region_codeMetopolitan Planning Organization (MPO)-based region code: see MPO_CountyList tabPlain Text01=Bay Area; 08=Sacramento Area; 09=San Diego; 14=Southern CaliforniaNumber_HouseholdsNumber of households in a jurisdictionNumericGini_indexCumulative percentage of household income relative to the cumulative percentage of the number of households expressed on a 0 to 1 scale called the Gini Index. The index ranges from 0.0, when all families (households) have equal shares of income, to 1.0, when one family (household) has all the income and the rest none (https://www.census.gov/prod/2000pubs/p60-204.pdf).NumericLL_95CILower limit of 95% confidence intervalNumericLower limit of 95% confidence interval. The 95% confidence limits depict the range within which the percentage would probably occur in 95 of 100 sets of data (if data similar to the present set were independently acquired on 100 separate occasions). In five of those 100 data sets, the percentage would fall outside the limits.UL_95CIUpper limit of 95% confidence intervalNumericUpper limit of 95% confidence interval. The 95% confidence limits depict the range within which the percentage would probably occur in 95 of 100 sets of data (if data similar to the present set were independently acquired on 100 separate occasions). In five of those 100 data sets, the percentage would fall outside the limits.seStandard error of percent NumericThe standard error (SE) of the estimate of the mean is a measure of the precision of the sample mean. The standard error falls as the sample size increases. (Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1255808/)rseRelative standard error (se/percent * 100) expressed as a percentNumericThe relative standard error (RSE) provides the rational basis for determining which rates may be considered “unreliable.” Conforming to National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) standards, rates that are calculated from fewer than 20 data elements, the equivalent of an RSE of 23 percent or more, are considered unreliable. From: http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/ohir/Documents/OHIRProfiles2014.pdfCA_decileDecilesNumeric"CA_decile" groups places or census tracts into 10 groups (or deciles) according to the distribution of values of the index (Gini_index). The first decile (1) corresponds to the highest Gini indices; the tenth decile (10) corresponds to the lowest Gini indices. Equal values or 'ties' are assigned the mean decile rank. For example, in a database of 100 records where 70 records equal 0, 0 values span from the 1st to 7th deciles (70% of all data records). As a result, all 0 values will be assigned to the 4th decile: the mean between the 1st and 7th deciles. The deciles are only calculated for places and/or census tracts.CA_RRIndex ratio to state indexNumericRatio of local index to state index. This indicates how many times the local index is higher or lower than the state index (Reference: http://health.mo.gov/training/epi/RateRatio-b.html). Values higher than 1 indicate local index is higher than state index.Median_HH_incomeMedian household income data is provided for users to stratify the Gini index by income deciles for places and countiesNumericMedian_HH_decileMedian household income data is provided for users to stratify the Gini index by income deciles for places and countiesNumericversionDate/time stamp of version of dataDate/Timemm/DD/CCYY hh:mm:ss

Graph and download economic data for Income Gini Ratio of Families by Race of Householder, All Races (GINIALLRF) from 1947 to 2024 about gini, households, income, and USA.

Recent studies of representation at the national and state levels have provided evidence that elected officials’ votes, political parties’ platforms, and enacted policy choices are more responsive to the preferences of the affluent, while those with average incomes and the poor have little or no impact in the political process. Yet, this research on the dominance of the affluent has overlooked key partisan differences in the electorate. In this era of hyper-partisanship, we argue that representation occurs through the party system, and we test whether taking this reality into account changes the story of policy dominance by the rich. We combine data on public preferences and state party positions to test for income bias in parties’ representation of their own co-partisans. The results show an interesting pattern in which under-representation of the poor is driven by Democratic parties pushing the more liberal social policy stances of rich Democrats and Republican parties reflecting the particularly conservative economic policy preferences of Rich Republicans. Thus, we have ample evidence that the wealthy, more often than not, do call the shots, but that the degree to which this disproportionate party responsiveness produces less representative policies depends on the party in power and the policy dimension being considered. We conclude by linking this pattern of influence and “coincidental representation” to familiar changes which define the transformation of the New Deal party system.[insert article abstract]

In the third quarter of 2024, the top ten percent of earners in the United States held over ** percent of total wealth. This is fairly consistent with the second quarter of 2024. Comparatively, the wealth of the bottom ** percent of earners has been slowly increasing since the start of the *****, though remains low. Wealth distribution in the United States by generation can be found here.

Income Inequality Rates by State, Year and Statistic

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Income Inequality in Lake County, IN was 15.56681 Ratio in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Income Inequality in Lake County, IN reached a record high of 15.56681 in January of 2023 and a record low of 13.13563 in January of 2010. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Income Inequality in Lake County, IN - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on September of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Income Inequality in District of Columbia (2020RATIO011001) from 2010 to 2023 about inequality, DC, income, and USA.

While most Americans appear to acknowledge the large gap between the rich and the poor in the U.S., it is not clear if the public is aware of recent changes in income inequality. Even though economic inequality has grown substantially in recent decades, studies have shown that the public's perception of growing income disparities has remained mostly unchanged since the 1980s. This research offers an alternative approach to evaluating how public perceptions of inequality are developed. Centrally, it conceptualizes the public's response to growing economic disparities by applying theories of macro-political behavior and place-based contextual effects to the formation of aggregate perceptions about income inequality. It is argued that most of the public relies on basic information about the economy to form attitudes about inequality and that geographic context---in this case, the American states---plays a role in how views of income disparities are produced. A new measure of state perceptions of growing economic inequality over a 25-year period is used to examine whether the public is responsive to objective changes in economic inequality. Time-series cross-sectional analyses suggest that the public's perceptions of growing inequality are largely influenced by objective state economic indicators and state political ideology. This research has implications for how knowledgeable the public is of disparities between the rich and the poor, whether state context influences attitudes about inequality, and what role the public will have in determining how expanding income differences are addressed through government policy.

United States US: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data was reported at 41.500 % in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 41.000 % for 2013. United States US: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data is updated yearly, averaging 40.400 % from Dec 1979 (Median) to 2016, with 11 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 41.500 % in 2016 and a record low of 34.600 % in 1979. United States US: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household. The Gini index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Thus a Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.

Income Inequality in Westchester County, NY was 25.51079 Ratio in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Income Inequality in Westchester County, NY reached a record high of 25.51079 in January of 2023 and a record low of 21.21995 in January of 2010. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Income Inequality in Westchester County, NY - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on September of 2025.