Jackson, WY Has Largest Income Gap in America

If you have ever been in Jackson, Wyoming, it at first might seem like a quaint mountain town with awe inspiring mountains and colorful locals, but it has retained the infamous title as having the largest income gap in America. According to CNBC, a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. who’s goal is to analyze the difference between the wealthiest 1% of Americans verses the rest, has found that Jackson, Wyoming is the most unequal place regarding income in America. The EPI has collected this data from 1917-2015 and, just as an editorial note, study’s statistics are backdated due to sheer sample size. This is not the first time this has happened either; Snow Brains has wrote about this in the past as well and it has been a growing theme over the years.

Jackson, Wyoming placed consistently as the top place for largest income gap in multiple categories. Some alarming figures are as follows:

So why does this all matter? One inference from the data is that the mega rich, the people that make up the upper echelon of the national 1% (like Dick Chaney and a Wal-Mart heiress), might be tipping the scales a bit. However, the paramount dark truth remains. The gap between the 1% and the rest is not only becoming bigger, but is growing faster. From 2009-2015, the top 1% grew faster in 43 states, captured more than half the available income in 9 states, and on average made 26 times as much as a family in the lower 99%.

The stats in the Economic Policy Institute report is an incredible treasure trove and I would highly advise checking it out. I would encourage you to look to see where you live and how it ranks in comparison to locations of famous ski towns.