A lot keeps being made about this whole 1 percent thing. From Occupy chants to damning news reports stating nearly 50 percent of the world’s riches is soon to be in the tightly clenched fists of just a few ultra wealthy people, the vast majority of our population sounds like it gets the short end of the financial stick.
But how bad is the income disparity, especially here in these United States? More importantly, where do you and yours fit in amongst it all?
A new report (PDF) from the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, shows the state of the union as far as income inequality goes, and, well, it’s pretty harsh. See below for a state-by-state ranking, from top to bottom ratio. The first number is what you’d need to rake in annually to be hob-nobbing with the your state’s 1 percenters; the second is what the rest of us average schleps make.
Conspicuously absent is Wyoming, where the 1 percent average income is a staggering $5,078,696, due in large part to the energy and oil industries, but unfortunately, due to a lack of data and conflicts with existing data, the study couldn’t determine the normal folks’ yearly wages.
All in all, it’s a pretty shocking difference.
- Connecticut: $2,683,600 / $52,603
- New York: $2,130,743 / $44,049
- Nevada: $1,497,185 / $33,970
- Florida: $1,488,367 / $34,387
- California: $1,598,161 / $45,775
- Massachusetts: $1,819,077 / $52,758
- Texas: $1,499,944 / $46,102
- District of Columbia: $1,959,334 / $43,713
- Illinois: $1,366,958 / $46,080
- New Jersey: $1,546,481 / $57,299
- Washington: $1,272,313 / $45,517
- Colorado: $1,247,381 / $50,367
- Oklahoma: $1,105,521 / $41,995
- Arkansas: $895,844 / $34,179
- North Dakota: $1,566,183 / $59,931
- Michigan: $942,993 / $37,324
- South Dakota: $1,249,327 / $50,089
- Pennsylvania: $1,069,318 / $43,847
- Utah: $1,117,330 / $46,612
- Louisiana: $974,376 / $40,792
- Tennessee: $925,479 / $38,942
- Montana: $920,802 / $38,931
- Missouri: $936,785 / $39,778
- Minnesota: $1,185,238 / $50,476
- Arizona: $877,466 / $37,811
- Georgia: $939,291 / $41,121
- Kansas: $1,093,986 / $48,312
- New Hampshire: $1,182,788 / $52,994
- Wisconsin: $974,753 / $44,123
- Rhode Island: $966,071 / $44,563
- Nebraska: $1,106,763 / $51,654
- Idaho: $855,227 / $40,438
- Ohio: $852,569 / $40,469
- South Carolina: $724,646 / $35,167
- Virginia: $1,162,017 / $56,584
- Alabama: $751,844 / $36,659
- North Carolina: $828,487 / $40,429
- Oregon: $810,196 / $40,314
- Maryland: $1,160,114 / $61,528
- Indiana: $755,603 / $41,259
- Delaware: $863,734 / $46,686
- Kentucky: $685,742 / $37,124
- New Mexico: $676,217 / $36,883
- Mississippi: $634,614 / $34,947
- Vermont: $807,836 / $44,656
- Iowa: $855,918 / $48,739
- Maine: $688,169 / $40,032
- West Virginia: $537,989 / $33,109
- Alaska: $939,371 / $61,333
- Hawaii: $770,679 / $52,630
The United States as a whole comes out to $1,303,198 / $43,713, which has a ratio of 29.8. Ranked regionally, the Northeast takes the top at $1,656,523 / $48,199, followed by the stalwart Midwest: $1,022,655 / $43,618, then the South, $1,138,251 / $42,113 and finally the great wide open and rocky coasts of the West at the bottom, with $1,347,158 / $44,759.
