clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Atlanta is unfortunately the U.S. capital of income inequality again

New, 92 comments

Bloomberg says Atlanta’s income disparity is now worse than all other major cities

As seen from the Beltline’s forthcoming Southside Trail, an example of Atlanta’s dichotomy of large homes and communities of smaller apartments.
As seen from the Beltline’s forthcoming Southside Trail, an example of Atlanta’s dichotomy of large homes and communities of smaller apartments.
Jonathan Phillips, Curbed Atlanta

Anyone who’s spent significant time in Atlanta has probably realized the city is a study in extreme wealth and poverty, a place where one of America’s wealthiest zip codes flourishes maybe a 10-minute drive from a civic hellscape of drugs and disinvestment.

Tragically, so are most American metropolises.

But the problem of income inequality is more dire now in Atlanta than any other U.S. city, per a Bloomberg ranking released this week.

The unfortunate news echoes findings in recent years by the Brookings Institute, which labeled Atlanta the country’s most unequal city for a second year running in 2015, finding that top household incomes were 20 times those at the bottom.

Per Bloomberg, Atlanta has unseated Miami—the leader/loser the past two years—in terms of income disparities among residents.

New Orleans ranked No. 2, with Philadelphia rising/slipping drastically to No. 3.

Bloomberg

Atlanta’s a hodgepodge of Coca-Cola and Delta bigwigs, where 18 percent of households pull in at least $150,000, but with nearly a quarter of the remaining populace living in poverty, Bloomberg reports, citing U.S. Census data.

As one researcher noted: ”At the high end, [Atlanta] looks like one of the most successful American cities, like a San Francisco or a New York or a Washington. But at its low end, one of America’s poor cities.”

Ouch.