I found this Income Inequality Map posted at the Carsey Institute, U of New Hampshire.
After reading the article about the change in the Income Inequality in New England you can scroll down to find another map showing the low income population in Northern New England.
{Click on the graph to take a closer look}
See also:
United States Poverty Map
United States Household Income Map
[tags]income distribution, US income distribution, inequality, income inequality[/tags]
Previous post: Highest Paid Female Executives in 2005
Next post: Real Gross National Income per Person
Visualizing Economics was created by Catherine Mulbrandon. Here you can view graphs and charts about the United States and world economies. I am available for freelance projects.
Infographics listed in VE Inforgraphics by Catherine Mulbrandon are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Images created by others retain the © of their respective owners, and their reproduction here for educational and critical purposes constitutes fair use.
View my LinkedIn Profile
Email me at
catherine[at]mrdiconsulting.com
Subscribe via RSS
Become a fan on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
I would understand the southwest inequality arising from the wages of illegal immigrants and the prevelant southern inequality due to remnants of segregation and black rural poverty, but what does the inequality in West Virginia come from?
> …what does the inequality in West Virginia come from?
Coal mine owners vs. coal miners maybe?
There are a lot of people in West Virginia who have very little income.
Coal barons, chemical plants
Always when I look at maps of the US with shaded infographics, I look for Tulsa and I look for Oklahoma City. If the two do not match, I consider the infographic to be accurate.
Tulsa = Most Equal
OKC = Most Unequal
Therefore, I give this infographic a high credibility rating.
I want to live in an area of inequality! Where else could you have better chance of moving up?
Only communism will produce economic equality- capitalism is by definition based on allowing people to move up & down.
I can give this some credit as well.
Orange county, California is practically black. Since i know of the unequalness here, this looks legit as well…..
Hey Mike M -
Orange County California is ANYTHING BUT practically all black.. maybe L.A. County!
This from a Wikipedia article:
As of the census[12] of 2000, there were 2,846,289 people………..
…….The racial makeup of the county was 64.81% White, 13.59% Asian, 1.67% African American, 0.70% Native American, 0.31% Pacific Islander, 1.72% African American, 0.38% Native American, 14.32% from other races, and 2.44% from two or more races. 32.89% of the population were Hispanic of any race. 30.49% of the population was foreign born.[11]
A large number of – “Hispanics of ANY race”. – The way the count is done it looks like more than 100% population, which obviously can’t be true, but mixed race individuals and the way the census classifies would account for the overlap. But the 1.72% African American number tells the story in Orange County Vis a Vis the “black” population.
I have a feeling that the areas with equal wages are only equal because EVERYONE is poor.
inequality to what?
The big cities, surrounded by white suburbs, bear a disturbing resemblance to strep colonies on a SBA petri dish. What have we become?
I think this would only be useful if the cost of living in each area where considered as well. How can you compare income in CA to WV when the housing markets, cost of utilities, etc. are so vastly different? Without that information, this map adds has value.
Mitch, I couldn’t agree less. I can’t understand the line of thinking celebrates poverty, because it means that you can have more stuff.
Actually, Time, “I have a feeling that the areas with equal wages are only equal because EVERYONE is poor” is incorrect if this graphic is correct. I live in the giant suburb surrounding Washington D.C. where nearly everyone is middle and upper middle class. That area is one of the “most equal” areas.
Here in Washington, NC we’re in a Tier 1 county. Our poverty rate was 19.5 percent at last count and our unemployment rate was 6 percent. Over the years we’ve lost 3,000 manufacturing jobs; that’s 50 percent of our work force.
Inequity of what? There’s an implicit concept here, maybe some kind of a media buzzword that “we all know”
What two things are being compared, and found to be not-equal?
Is this “wage grouped by self-perceived race”? or “median wage grouped by apparent gender”?
It’s easier to understand if the things we have to assume, or can assume incorrectly, are defined concretely. Spell it out, or it will not make sense, unless your objective is truly something other than comprehension by the largest part of society.
Allan Clark
Click on the link to the data source to find the answers to your questions.
To Alec – Most of the poor in NM are not illegal immigrants, but people (of Spanish and native descent) whose families were there long before it was US territory, but whose titles to the land were stolen or ignored when it became US territory. Hence the income inequality – a small number of people managed to control huge amounts of land for ranching, leaving most people poor.
Wow, the division of inequality between North and South is all to familiar…..
As Malcolm X stated in his book, D.C. had the worst poverty he had seen; the Census Bureau reported “In 2005, Washington D.C. had a higher concentration of severly poor people, 10.8% in 2005, than ANY of the 50 states.
That is our nation’s capitol!
Ohh BUT God Bless America, ahahah! OKAY!
Mitch, I’m in favor of capitalism, but inequality isn’t something to be sought for. The more middle class equality, the better. However, what IS bad is forced equality (socialism). That brings everybody down, in the end even the poor.
“Only communism will produce economic equality- capitalism is by definition based on allowing people to move up & down.”
This is only true in the purest forms of these terms. No such situation has ever, nor ever will exist in world society, so the whole statement is pretty much applicable to nothing, in reality. The brand of capitalism in the United States does not lend itself to up-down movement simply due to capitalism.
“Wow, the division of inequality between North and South is all to familiar….. ”
Yes, yes it is all too familiar, and has been this way since the end of the Civil War. The main reason is “carpet-baggers”. It still is. They haven’t quit migrating down here.
“Most of the poor in NM are not illegal immigrants, but people (of Spanish and native descent) whose families were there long before it was US territory, but whose titles to the land were stolen or ignored when it became US territory. Hence the income inequality – a small number of people managed to control huge amounts of land for ranching, leaving most people poor.”
Sadly, this is true, particularly in Texas. If you want to know the true purpose of the famous “Texas Rangers”, read about this historically dark period. Again, mainly carpet baggers, usually republicans, with connections in the republican white house. U.S. Grant’s administration was undoubtedly one of the most corrupt in our nation’s history, the present administration ranking right up there, if not surpassing Grant’s. Of course, the Bush’s weren’t Texans. They came from Connecticut.
Do not marry with foolishness. There may be children.
Clay: nice job.
Rafik: Never wrestle with a pig. You’ll both get covered in sh*t, but the pig
will enjoy it.
All: I cannot believe the number of contributors who have confounded “inequality” with “income” (or “wealth”). It’s a map of inequality: it reflects the distribution of household income, not the absolute value of household income. Look at the legend.
Can’t wait to calculate the gini index by puma when the 2010 census data is available. Thanks for the interesting feedback
Inequality is important because the rich bid up the price of land, meaning even if you earn good money you might struggle to get by in a tiny Condo
($330,000 next to a very busy street in a “lower income” but not bad neigborhood in Orange County,CA)in an area with many wealthy people. Because of absentee ownership, wealthy people in other states own land in affordable states, making it difficult for local people to buy land or even a house, since wages in affordable states are lower. In Colorado Springs there is plenty of land, but its mostly vacation mansions of people who do not live in Colorado. Most of the people live in a crowded “seedy” neigborhood. Downtown homelessness is very vissible. Yet wide open luxury ranches are within 30min walking distance. Security guards are hired to keep the homeless out of the ranches which are unoccupied most of the year. Its not uncommon for secluded mansions (with helicopter pads) to be located on top of entire little forested mountains. The mountains are fenced off. signs: “Tresspassers shot on site”