off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
A State-by-State Look at Inequality
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Income inequality has grown in all parts of the country since the late 1970s, a major new analysis by CBPP and the Economic Policy Institute finds. Incomes rose significantly at the top but only modestly for middle- and lower-income households.
In fact, over the most recent full business cycle (from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s), average incomes fell by close to 6 percent among the bottom fifth of households while rising by just 1.2 percent among the middle fifth, by 8.6 percent among the top fifth, and by 14 percent among the top 5 percent of households.
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Here are a few highlights on specific states:
We’ll discuss our findings more closely in follow-up posts. We’ll also look at some of the causes of rising inequality and ways that states can mitigate its harmful effects.