Data 4 Thought

Wage inequality by state and city: five takeaways

Where the pay gap is widest, what it looks like in dollars, how it has changed since 2016, and the income wage data cannot see.

Eric Pachman

Published:September 28th 2026

Yesterday we rebuilt our chart of wage inequality by city and state, which shows how payroll wages are split across occupations in every U.S. state and metro area. Here are five things it shows. It covers payroll (W-2) wages only, and the fifth takeaway shows what that leaves out.

1. New York is the most unequal state on two of three measures

First, what the gap looks like. The chart below puts New York and Maine, the most and least unequal states by the Gini, on the same axes.

Line chart titled How far the curve bows shows the gap, May 2025. Two curves show the share of payroll wages by share of workers, occupations ordered by average pay, against a dashed equal pay line. Maine, Gini 0.231, stays closer to the line; New York, Gini 0.308, bows farther below it. At the halfway mark, the lowest-paid half of workers get 34.2% of wages in Maine and 28.2% in New York.

We measured the gap three ways: the Gini of payroll wages across occupations, the share of wages that goes to the lowest-paid half of workers, and how far the pay needed to be in the top 10% sits above the median wage. The chart below shows the five most and least unequal states on each.

Three panels of bar charts titled Most and least unequal states, May 2025. By the Gini, the most unequal are New York 0.308, Georgia, Texas, California and New Jersey, and the least unequal are Maine 0.231, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Hawaii. By the lowest-paid half's share of wages, New York is lowest at 28.2% and Maine highest at 34.2%. By the top 10% pay line vs. the median, California leads at 173% and North Dakota is lowest at 97%.

2. San Jose, New York and San Francisco lead the metro areas

The same three measures for metro areas. San Jose, New York and San Francisco rank in the top five on all three.

Three panels of bar charts titled Most and least unequal metro areas, May 2025, for 387 metro areas outside Puerto Rico. By the Gini, San Jose is most unequal at 0.332 and Grants Pass, OR least at 0.200. By the lowest-paid half's share, San Jose is lowest at 25.0% and Grants Pass highest at 37.5%. By the top 10% pay line vs. the median, San Francisco leads at 174% and Grand Island, NE is lowest at 75%.

The least unequal places are all small metro areas. The chart below keeps only the 50 with 500,000 or more jobs. The most equal of them is Riverside, CA.

Three panels of bar charts titled Most and least unequal large metros, May 2025, for the 50 metro areas with 500,000 or more jobs. By the Gini, San Jose is most unequal at 0.332, followed by New York, San Francisco, Atlanta and Houston, and Riverside, CA is least unequal at 0.241, followed by Grand Rapids, Louisville, Buffalo and Portland.

3. In dollars, the high end pulls away

The chart below shows the gap on a paycheck: how much more registered nurses, software developers and lawyers earn than home health and personal care aides in the same metro area.

Grouped bar chart titled The pay gap in dollars vs. home health aides, May 2025. In San Jose, lawyers earn $249,620 more a year than aides, software developers $182,350 more and registered nurses $155,590 more. In Joplin, MO-KS the same gaps are $81,360, $71,080 and $40,210. Aide pay is $39,360 in San Jose and $36,610 in Joplin.

Across these six metro areas, aide pay ranges from $36,610 to $51,080 a year. The gap to lawyers ranges from $79,740 to $249,620. In the New York metro, home health and personal care aides grew from 297,950 jobs in May 2016 to 644,700 in May 2025, and are now its largest occupation.

Fast food and counter workers show the same pattern. Their pay is higher in the two California metro areas, where large chains must pay at least $20 an hour, and the gap to the top is still widest there.

Grouped bar chart titled The pay gap in dollars vs. fast food workers, May 2025. In San Jose, lawyers earn $244,000 more a year than fast food and counter workers, software developers $176,730 more and registered nurses $149,970 more. In Joplin, MO-KS the same gaps are $88,210, $77,930 and $47,060. Fast food pay is $44,980 in San Jose and $29,760 in Joplin.

4. Overall, the wage gap has gotten narrower since 2016, but it is mixed since 2022

We compared each place's Gini in May 2016 and May 2022 with May 2025, counting a change only if it clears survey noise and our other checks.

Stacked bar chart titled Narrower since 2016, mixed since 2022. Since 2016, 47 of 51 states narrowed and 4 show no clear change; 229 of 305 metro areas narrowed, 75 show no clear change and 1 widened. Since 2022, 15 states narrowed, 25 show no clear change and 11 widened; 108 of 307 metro areas narrowed, 143 show no clear change and 56 widened.

This surprised me, and I found it encouraging. By this measure, most places have become less unequal since 2016.

Since 2022, 11 states widened, led by North Dakota, Arkansas and Pennsylvania. Of the 25 largest metro areas, 23 have comparable data, and three of them widened: Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Philadelphia.

5. Wage data misses where the money is

This visualization looks at only one piece of the income picture, so we can't conclude that places are actually becoming less unequal. The visualization covers wages. On 2023 tax returns, wages were most of the income for most filers, but not at the top.

Stacked bar chart titled Where income comes from, by size of income, 2023 federal tax returns. Wages are 80% of total income on returns under $50,000 and 69% on returns of $200,000 to $500,000, but 17% on returns of $10 million or more, where capital gains are 39%. Across all returns, wages are 66%.

The same holds for places. In the richest fifth of large counties, wages were 64% of income on tax returns, against 72% in the poorest fifth. In Manhattan they were 54%, and in Collier County, FL, home to Naples and many wealthy retirees, 30%.

Stacked bar chart titled Where income comes from, by county, 2023 tax returns for 616 counties with 100,000 or more people. Wages fall from 72% of income in the poorest fifth of counties to 64% in the richest fifth, while capital gains rise from 3% to 8%. Wages are 54% in Manhattan, 52% in Marin County, CA, 56% in Western Connecticut and 30% in Collier County, FL, where capital gains are 20%.

See it for your place

What this does and does not tell you

Payroll (W-2) wages only, from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025. It leaves out the self-employed and investment income.
The Gini here measures gaps between occupations' average pay, not between individual workers.
Changes over time compare years three apart, so they share no survey data.
County income is from 2023 tax returns, which leave out unreported income and gains not yet sold.
The full method is on the chart's page.

Common questions

Which state has the most wage inequality?

New York, by the Gini of payroll wages across occupations (0.308 in May 2025). By the pay needed to be in the top 10% compared with the median, California is first. Maine is the most equal by the Gini.

Is wage inequality getting worse?

Measured as the gap in payroll wages between occupations, it narrowed in 47 of 51 states since 2016. Since 2022 it is mixed: 11 states widened and 15 narrowed. Wage data leaves out investment income, so this does not show whether overall inequality fell.

Where does the income of the richest come from?

On 2023 tax returns of $10 million or more, wages were 17% of income and capital gains 39%.

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