Atlanta, Georgia suffers the greate income inequality of any city in the US - closely followed by New Orleans. According to Bloomberg [3], which ranked 300 U.S. cities with populations of at least 100,000 based on their level of income inequality and identified the 50 with the greatest inequality. What is stunning is that while top-down many are focused on the widening gap overall, in these 2 cities alone, over one-quarter are in poverty (earn less than $4,020), while 60% are in the nation's top quintile for household income. Interestingly, the median income does not correlate well with the inequality.
Income Inequality of the worst 50 cities in the US...
[4]
And (in the same order) the median household income...
[5]
Methodology (via Bloomberg)
The Gini coefficient, which is calculated by the Census from household income share by quintiles, was used to measure distribution of wealth. It ranges from zero, which reflects absolute equality, to one, complete inequality.
The average score for the United States was 0.4757. In 2013, a person living alone making less than $11,490 was classified as in poverty. The threshold increased by $4,020 for each additional household member.