Heavily Latino City among Worst in U.S. with Income Inequality

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The term “income inequality” is one that has gained a great deal of attention in recent years. Referring to the “extent” in which income is distributed in an uneven manner in a population.

In the U.S., according to the Institute for Policy Studies, the gap between the rich, poor, and everyone else has grown markedly in the past 30 years.

The Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a a bipartisan public policy organization created to advancing solutions that empower entrepreneurs and investors to forge a more dynamic economy in the U.S., recently completed a study that determined that San Antonio, Texas (64.34% Latino population), has one of the worst income inequalities in the country.

In San Antonio, the gap between the wealthiest zip code in the city and the poorest is among the widest compared to other major metropolitan areas, NEWS 4-SA reported.

Data uncovered by the study found that the area Shavano Park and Hill Country Village is the most affluent, the city’s Eastside represents its poorest. The median income in the wealthiest neighborhood was $107,000 while the poorest was just over $22,000.

“We’re becoming a country, in some sense, that your destiny is defined by your zip code,” said Steve Glickman with Economic Innovation Group in an interview with the news station.

In the U.S. as a whole, income disparities have become so pronounced that country’s top 10% now average more than nine times as much income as the bottom 90%; the top 1% average over 40 times more income than the bottom 90%.

As part of EIG’s study, it was found that more than 400,000 people in San Antonio are living in “distressed communities.”

Learn more about the link between income and health here:

• Latinos Earn Less and are Underrepresented in High-Paying Jobs http://salud.to/2hIFMhh #SaludIncome
• New Tool Focuses Equity Lens on Local Policies for Latinos http://salud.to/2zOl1an #SaludIncome