To judge income inequality, we used the Gini coefficient. That’s a number between 0 and 1 that measures how close a population’s income distribution is to perfect income equality — or where everyone essentially earns the same income. The bigger the number, the more unequal income distribution is. The Gini coefficient is generally considered the go-to measure of income inequality.

Use the map to find the Gini coefficient for your ZIP code. Lighter colors indicate lower income inequality. Dark yellow and orange have the highest Gini coefficient numbers. Gini numbers less than 0.35 are relatively low, more than 0.50 is relatively high.

