Metro Inequality

Here are the most equal of all metro area. I've used a bit different census data set on this, and that has a small effect on the rankings.

1. St. George, UT
2. Ogden, UT
3. Wausau, WI
4. Sheboygan, WI
5. Monroe, MI
6. Holland, MI
7. Lebanon, PA
8. Appleton, WI
9. York, PA
10. Hinesville, GA

So a list dominated by small metros that originally grew up in agricultural areas in the North. Utah is, of course, a special case, and it's other 3 metros are all in the top 25 if this list were extended.

The opposite side of the spectrum is below.

1. College Station, TX
2. Gainesville, FL
3. Tuscaloosa, AL
4. Bridgeport, CT
5. Athens, GA
6. Monroe, LA
7. New York, NY
8. Auburn, AL
9. Bloomington, IN
10. McAllen, TX

I omitted the metro areas OMB defines for Puerto Rico; otherwise they would crowd out almost everyone else. Well, there's an obvious pattern here, and while I didn't foresee the result, it makes a lot of sense. Inequality is a population with inordinate numbers of elites and inordinate numbers of people just struggling to get by. What better represents that reality than a college campus. Of course, to some extent, it's probably a bit of a case of stats being deceiving, as many no low-income college students are doing just fine with the parents' money, which won't count as income.

Other than the college towns, there's Bridgeport with its excess overclass, Monroe and McAllen with big portions of underclass , and New York with quite a bit of both.