Economic Inequality in New York State

New York State was the state with the greatest income disparity between the rich and poor in the mid-2000s. At that time incomes in the bottom fifth of the population were 8.7 times lower than those in the top fifth. In New York City this gap was even wider. In the mid-2000s the City’s top income quintile had an average income 9.5 times higher than the average income of the bottom quintile. Overall income in New York State grew between the 1980s and the mid-2000s but those at the top took the majority of this increase. The richest 20 percent’s share of total personal income grew from 42 percent in the late 1980s to 47 percent in the mid-2000s with the share of the richest 5 percent increasing the most, from 16 percent in the late 1980s to 21 percent in the mid-2000s. Meanwhile, the other 80 percent of New Yorkers saw their total share of personal income decline