> The wealthiest fifth of Manhattanites earned an average household income of $545,549, or more than 53 times as much as the bottom 20 percent, who earned an average of $10,259, according to 2022 census data<p>> “It’s amazingly unequal,” said Andrew Beveridge, the president of Social Explorer. “It’s a larger gap than in many developing countries,” and the widest gulf in the United States since 2006, when the data was first reported. The Bronx and Brooklyn were also among the top 10 counties in the country in terms of income inequality.<p>53x gap between the top and bottom quintiles shocked me. Was curious who the people making $10k/year are since that’d be much less than full time hours at minimum wage. The author responded in the comments:<p>> The folks in the bottom income tier include residents on forms of public assistance, gig economy workers with variable hours, and older single adults, among others. The average reflects a range of people making close to nothing to those making around $23,000, according to Social Explorer.
There is reason to think that raising the minimum wage could reduce this gap. As the story mentions, five of the 10 largest cities -- all of which fared better than New York, in terms of median household income -- have substantially increased their minimum wage since 2019. New York City has not.