economy
Income inequality (Gini)
Why this matters
The Gini index is a single score, from 0 to 1, that sums up how evenly income is spread across a community. A score of 0 would mean everyone earns exactly the same; a score of 1 would mean one household has all the income. Higher numbers mean income is concentrated among fewer people.
Inequality matters because it shapes opportunity. Where the gap between the top and everyone else is wide, working families may find it harder to afford housing, save money, or move up. Large gaps are also linked to weaker community trust and worse health outcomes.
The Gini index doesn’t say whether a place is rich or poor overall. Instead, it shows how the area’s income is shared.
About the Charlotte region
This explorer covers the 14-county, two-state Charlotte region (11 North Carolina and 3 South Carolina counties). Many of these indicators connect to a defining regional story: a landmark Harvard study ranked Charlotte last, 50th of the 50 largest U.S. metros for economic mobility (a child raised in the poorest fifth had about a 4.4% chance of reaching the top fifth), a finding that launched the region's Leading on Opportunity agenda. Updated 2024 data show Charlotte has since climbed to 38th.
Opportunity here is also unevenly mapped. An affluent “wedge” fanning southeast from uptown holds a large majority of the city's wealth on under a quarter of its land, while a ”crescent” to the north, west, and east carries higher poverty, a legacy of redlining, exclusionary zoning, and highway routing that recurs across the race, income, health, tree-canopy, and school maps in this tool. No single indicator is good or bad on its own; together they describe how the region sorted opportunity.
Companion resources: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer · UNC Charlotte Urban Institute · Opportunity Atlas · Methods & sources
Learn more
- U.S. Census Bureau — Gini Index census.gov
Official definition of the Gini index and how it captures inequality on a 0–1 scale.
- U.S. Census Bureau — Understanding Income Inequality census.gov
Accessible story explaining inequality measures and recent national trends.
About the data
Calculated from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2014–2024), at the Census-tract level, with margins of error. ACS 5-year vintages overlap year to year, so the series is a rolling estimate; compare only non-overlapping periods.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.