NICOLAS MARTINEZ

Inequality in America is higher now than ever before. Studies show that gains near the bottom 99% are modest to none, while the top 1% have made leaps in income greater than we’ve ever seen as a country. Income inequality is a rising concern to many policy makers across the aisle. To help understand it just a little bit more, I’ve grabbed all of the best resources to explain how vast the gap has become.

1) The minimum wage varies around the country. This map helps show the most recent data out on how different minimum wages actually are across the country. Although there is a federal minimum wage, some states have a higher level than others. The District of Columbia has the highest nominal minimum wage in the country currently at $10.50. However, this could more accurately be compared on the city and metro area level, rather than the state level. Additionally, DC’s real minimum wage is actually much lower because of the high cost of living in the metro area.

As you can see, many of the northeastern metropolitan states and the west coast have raised their minimum wages above the federal level. However, many states in the south have yet to enact any state legislation to set minimum wages. Additionally, in even more states, tipped workers often have much lower minimum wages than all other workers. These fissures in economic policy create inefficiencies in local wage markets.

2) Geography keeps the rich and the poor in separate worlds. In a recent blog post on the Washington Post’s Wonkblog, Emily Badger shows us how many metro areas are separated (and de facto segregated) by geography and wealth. After taking one look at Washington DC, you can easily see that much of the wealth is concentrated in the west – across the Patomac River in Virginia and west of Rock Creek in the District. Lower income individuals are concentrated historically on the eastern side of the Anacostia River and in the northeastern part of the District. These geographic inequalities and separations end up digging an even deeper trench between the two wealth brackets.

3) Wealth inequality is even more dangerous. An even more pernicious and creeping problem in our economy is wealth inequality. As Vox explains below, there is a growing wage gap in the United States, especially since the Great Recession. But more importantly, there is a even larger gap growing between the accumulation of total financial assets, or wealth. This includes stocks, bonds, property, savings, and inherited money. Check out the video to see more of how the wealth gap will be the real stickler for the economy: