The gap between rich and poor has expanded in U.S. cities, and nowhere is that chasm wider than Atlanta.
The top 5% of households earn nearly 20 times the income in the Georgia capital than the bottom 20%. That spread makes Atlanta the city with the highest degree of income inequality, ranking it ahead of San Francisco, Boston and Miami, according to aBrookings Institution study ranked released this week.
Overall, there is wider income inequality in the nation’s 50 largest cities compared with the country as a whole. In cities, the top 5% earn 11.6 times the average household income of the bottom 20%. The gap is 9.3 times in the U.S. Both margins widened slightly in 2013 compared with 2012, according to the Brookings study.
Income inequality did narrow in a few cities, including Nashville, Tenn., and Oklahoma City. Each of those rank among the cities with the smallest gap in earnings, but richer households still earn eight times their poorer neighbors.
Income Inequality Is Wider in Atlanta Than in San Francisco or Boston