How Atlanta Became The Capital Of Income Inequality

The city of Atlanta regularly shows up at the top of lists on income inequality. But there may be more to the story than the ranking.

Grace Walker / WABE

This story was produced in collaboration with the Ravitch Fiscal Reporting Program at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York. The program funded projects in New York, Seattle, Atlanta and cities in Texas to understand the role that state and local policies play in reducing or exacerbating income inequality.


Atlanta is the capital of income inequality.

So says the Brookings Institution, which has ranked the city’s wealth disparity as the worst in the United States for three out of the last five years.