Table 2

Top 1% share of all income, U.S. and by state and region, 1928, 1979, 2007

Change in income share of the top 1% (percentage points)
Rank (by change in share 1979–2007)  State/region 1928 1979 2007 1928–1979 1979–2007
1 Wyoming 12.2% 9.1% 31.4% -3.1 22.3
2 Connecticut 23.6% 11.2% 33.4% -12.5 22.2
3 New York 29.4% 11.5% 32.6% -17.9 21.1
4 Nevada 17.8% 11.5% 28.0% -6.3 16.5
5 Florida 22.2% 12.2% 28.1% -10.0 15.9
6 Massachusetts 24.2% 9.7% 24.8% -14.5 15.1
7 Illinois 22.5% 9.6% 22.8% -12.9 13.2
8 California 20.0% 10.2% 22.7% -9.7 12.5
9 Washington 14.9% 8.3% 20.4% -6.6 12.1
10 New Jersey 22.9% 9.5% 21.4% -13.4 11.8
11 Utah 16.0% 7.8% 18.8% -8.2 11.0
12 Arizona 17.5% 9.1% 20.0% -8.4 10.9
13 Colorado 19.3% 9.0% 19.7% -10.3 10.7
14 Tennessee 20.6% 9.6% 19.7% -11.0 10.1
15 Idaho 10.1% 7.6% 17.4% -2.5 9.8
16 Pennsylvania 22.0% 9.3% 18.9% -12.8 9.6
17 Vermont 17.5% 7.7% 17.2% -9.8 9.5
18 New Hampshire 18.9% 8.8% 18.0% -10.1 9.3
19 South Carolina 14.9% 8.4% 17.6% -6.5 9.2
20 Georgia 20.3% 9.5% 18.7% -10.8 9.2
21 Texas 18.7% 11.9% 21.0% -6.8 9.1
22 South Dakota 12.6% 7.7% 16.9% -4.9 9.1
23 Oklahoma 19.6% 10.6% 19.7% -9.1 9.1
24 Alabama 17.6% 9.5% 18.5% -8.0 8.9
25 Oregon 15.1% 8.7% 17.3% -6.5 8.7
26 Montana 15.6% 8.4% 16.9% -7.2 8.5
27 Maryland 26.4% 8.5% 17.0% -17.9 8.5
28 Minnesota 19.7% 9.3% 17.8% -10.4 8.5
29 North Carolina 16.7% 9.1% 17.0% -7.7 8.0
30 Missouri 21.4% 9.6% 17.6% -11.8 7.9
31 Wisconsin 16.8% 8.3% 16.2% -8.5 7.9
32 Virginia 18.7% 8.0% 15.9% -10.7 7.9
33 New Mexico 17.1% 8.5% 16.4% -8.6 7.9
34 Rhode Island 23.6% 10.3% 18.1% -13.3 7.8
35 Alaska 5.2% 5.3% 12.8% 0.1 7.6
36 Michigan 20.9% 9.0% 16.5% -11.9 7.5
37 Nebraska 14.9% 9.1% 16.5% -5.8 7.4
38 Delaware 45.0% 10.2% 17.3% -34.8 7.1
39 Hawaii 21.0% 7.5% 14.5% -13.5 7.0
40 Ohio 21.2% 9.0% 15.9% -12.1 6.8
41 Kansas 15.7% 9.8% 16.6% -5.9 6.8
42 Indiana 17.1% 8.6% 15.3% -8.5 6.7
43 North Dakota 12.8% 7.8% 14.4% -5.1 6.6
44 Kentucky 19.4% 9.2% 15.8% -10.1 6.6
45 Maine 20.5% 8.1% 14.5% -12.4 6.4
46 Arkansas 14.0% 9.8% 16.1% -4.2 6.3
47 Iowa 16.0% 8.3% 13.4% -7.7 5.1
48 West Virginia 16.5% 9.2% 14.3% -7.2 5.0
49 Mississippi 13.7% 10.1% 14.9% -3.5 4.7
50 Louisiana 18.3% 10.7% 14.6% -7.6 3.9
14* District of Columbia 24.1% 12.8% 23.1% -11.3 10.3
United States 23.4% 9.9% 21.8% -13.4 11.8
Northeast 26.3% 10.3% 26.1% -16.0 15.8
West 18.8% 9.6% 21.5% -9.2 11.9
South 20.4% 10.4% 20.1% -10.0 9.8
Midwest 20.6% 9.1% 17.8% -11.5 8.7

* Rank of the District of Columbia if it were ranked with the 50 states

Note: Data are for tax units.

Source: Authors' analysis of state-level tax data from Sommeiller (2006) extended to 2007 using state-level data from the Internal Revenue Service SOI Tax Stats (various years), and Piketty and Saez (2012)

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