Census Releases Income Disparity Report for Counties in US

The Census Bureau released a report yesterday on Household Income Disparity in US Counties which shows how each county in the US ranks on the Gini Index. The Gini Index is a summary measure of income inequality. As an index, it only has a value of between 0 and 1. A value of "0" would mean that every household had the same exact income; a value of "1" would mean that income was concentrated solely in a single household.

Nationally the value ranges from .645 in East Carroll Parish in Louisiana, to .207 in Loving County in Texas. This would mean that the place where the MOST DISPARITY or inequality of income exists is in East Carroll, LA and the county where the MOST EQUITY exists is in Loving County, TX. The map below shows the entire country spatially on the Gini Index.

So how do we fair regionally ? Well in Herkimer and Oneida Counties the Gini Index is .411 and .432, respectively. In essence we are pretty much in the middle of the range of inequity. Below are some income data for both counties based on the same data as the Census study - the 2006-2010 ACS data.