Segregation in America may be more common than you think.
Increased income inequality has spurred the growth of economic segregation -- or segregation based on income -- according to a report from the Pew Research Center. Between 1980 and 2010, 27 of the 30 largest metropolitan areas saw greater numbers of high-income residents living in neighborhoods with other high-income residents, and low-income residents living in neighborhoods with other low-income residents. Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Orlando were the only three exceptions.
If recent trends are any indication, economic segregation may only be poised to get worse. During 2009 and 2010, the rich grabbed a bigger share of total income growth than they did between 2002 and 2007, according to a recent analysis from Emmanuel Saez, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Many experts argue that economic inequality breeds inefficiency from lower wage workers, according to The New York Times. Taken at face value, these findings spell trouble for increasingly unequal and divided metropolitan communities.
Denver, Detroit, Miami, New York and Los Angeles are among the most economically segregated metropolitan areas in the country, according to the report. Three of the top ten most economically segregated metropolitan areas are in the state currently governed by one Rick Perry. We're talking about Texas.
Below are the most economically segregated cities in America:
