Income Inequality in Bay Area Exceeds National Levels, Research Institute Finds

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By Bay City News Service

Income inequality in the Bay Area is now more severe than in the rest of the nation, according to a Silicon Valley economic research institute.

The difference between high- and low-income Bay Area households in 2013 was $263,000, compared with a $178,000 difference nationwide, according to information released Wednesday by the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies.

Households with incomes among the top five percent of all households in the Bay Area have average incomes of $473,000, according to the institute.

That is 31.5 times the average income of the households at the bottom 20 percent of all Bay Area households, which is around $15,000.

That’s a difference of about $458,000.

The difference between the two groups of households nationwide is $328,000, according to the institute.