Inequality in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Counties: Factors Related to Variation and Change

Abstract

This manuscript attempts to improve social science understanding of inequality by utilizing data for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties from the 1990 and 2000 Census. It was found that a set of social conditions were stronger predictors of inequality than either economic structure or the contextual variables. The primary exception was that inequality levels were much higher in the nonmetro South than in other regions. The most important social conditions were median household income, percent of females employed, and percent with a college degree. In exploring inequality change, the data revealed that inequality levels increased from 1990 to 2000 in counties where median household income declined, female employment declined and where the proportion of individuals with a college degree increased. Inequality levels were higher in nonmetro areas than in metro areas. However, this relationship seems to be largely function of high inequality levels in the nonmetro South.