Income Inequality

Much has been made of late about income inequality, and rightly so. To get at this a bit better, I downloaded data from this site and cranked out a ranking of Georgia counties in terms of their income inequality. This is done by calculating the ratio between the 80th percentile income with the 20 percentile income. The higher the number, the more unequal the income distribution in each county.

And yes, the county where I live comes in at #1. We're #1, we're #1.

Below, the Top 5 counties and, in parentheses, the respective ratio scores. To explain, Clarke's 7.5 is a function of the 80th percentile salary ($76,474) divided by its 20th percentile salary ($10,231). That's 7.474734, for you math majors out there, so let's round it to 7.5.

1. Clarke (7.5)
2. Twiggs (6.9)
3. Bleckley (6.7)
4. (tie) Bulloch, Toombs, Baker (6.5)

So what are the counties with the lowest inequality? Chattahoochee, followed by Paulding, Barrow (near where I live), Henry, and Pike.

Frankly I'm a bit surprised by a few of the results. Take Greene County, for example, a place that has the ultra rich around Lake Oconee and a whole of folks who are, um, not rich. It's way down in the pack, at 27th. Or nearby Oconee County, it's only 117th.

What makes Athens-Clarke #1? Lousy poverty rate, of course, as well as some good salaries of folks who work at the University of Georgia, plus sometimes the salary info gets skewed via the Census when students are included in the data.

Below (I hope), every county ordered by rank.

County	Rank
Clarke	1
Twiggs	2
Bleckley	3
Bulloch	4
Toombs	5
Baker	6
Bacon	7
Tift	8
Baldwin	9
Fulton	10
Taylor	11
Laurens	12
Clinch	13
Calhoun	14
Turner	15
Dougherty	16
Thomas	17
Sumter	18
Schley	19
Burke	20
Crisp	21
Bibb	22
Warren	23
Telfair	24
Greene	25
Wheeler	26
Washington	27
Early	28
Dooly	29
Webster	30
Peach	31
Dodge	32
Treutlen	33
Atkinson	34
Johnson	35
Mitchell	36
Grady	37
Screven	38
Terrell	39
Decatur	40
Ben Hill	41
Hart	42
Ware	43
Troup	44
Hancock	45
Stewart	46
Tattnall	47
Rabun	48
Lanier	49
Wilkes	50
Talbot	51
Haralson	52
Jenkins	53
Lincoln	54
Miller	55
Wilcox	56
Richmond	57
McDuffie	58
Macon	59
Brooks	60
Seminole	61
Colquitt	62
Candler	63
Appling	64
Marion	65
Lowndes	66
Jefferson	67
Irwin	68
Spalding	69
Emanuel	70
Evans	71
Glynn	72
Montgomery	73
Lumpkin	74
Fannin	75
Muscogee	76
Franklin	77
DeKalb	78
Floyd	79
Chatham	80
Wayne	81
Charlton	82
Monroe	83
Berrien	84
Cook	85
Carroll	86
Heard	87
Coffee	88
Pulaski	89
Lamar	90
Crawford	91
Brantley	92
Walker	93
McIntosh	94
Cobb	95
Clay	96
Harris	97
Gordon	98
Union	99
Jeff Davis	100
Stephens	101
Murray	102
Glascock	103
Worth	104
Echols	105
Camden	106
Walton	107
Banks	108
Habersham	109
Morgan	110
Pierce	111
Jackson	112
Elbert	113
Randolph	114
Putnam	115
Polk	116
Oconee	117
Meriwether	118
Wilkinson	119
Jasper	120
Dawson	121
Dade	122
Upson	123
Whitfield	124
Taliaferro	125
Liberty	126
Hall	127
Bryan	128
White	129
Bartow	130
Jones	131
Towns	132
Houston	133
Chattooga	134
Pickens	135
Clayton	136
Catoosa	137
Oglethorpe	138
Madison	139
Newton	140
Lee	141
Fayette	142
Gwinnett	143
Gilmer	144
Forsyth	145
Cherokee	146
Coweta	147
Butts	148
Rockdale	149
Quitman	150
Long	151
Douglas	152
Effingham	153
Columbia	154
Pike	155
Henry	156
Barrow	157
Paulding	158
Chattahoochee	159