State Income Equality

States with the most income equality tend to be Republican states. The following is a ranking of states by income equality according to the GINI Coefficient where a rank of 1 is most income equality and 50 is least income equality. Also shown are state Democratic advantages according to Gallup, Representatives/Senators in Congress by party, party breakdown in the state legislature, and how they voted in the 2012 presidential election. Ultimately 12 of the 20 states with most income equality had Republican advantages according to Gallup polling.

List of States by Income Equality

Determination of whether a state is Republican or Democrat is based solely on the Gallup data (Democrat Advantage); the state's ratios for Congress, the state legislature, and 2012 presidential election results are merely provided for informational purposes. For example, Colorado, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Virginia all voted for Obama in 2012 but Gallup polling reveals they are primarily Republican, and thus they are labeled Republican here, particularly since their legislative elections reveal them to be Republican. On the other hand Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have elected more Republicans at both the state and federal levels than Democrats, but are labeled as Democrat states because Gallup polling shows they have Democrat Advantages. States which could be classified as definite swing states include Colorado, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

RANK	STATE	GINI	PARTY	DEM. ADV.	CONGRESS	STATE LEG.	ROMNEY VOTE	OBAMA VOTE
1	Utah	.425	Republican	-32%	6/6 R	85/104 R	73%	25%
2	Alaska	.432	Republican	-20%	3/3 R	37/60	55%	41%
3	Hawaii	.435	Democrat	24%	4/4 D	67/76 D	28%	71%
4	New Hampshire	.435	Republican	-4%	2/4 R	253/424 R	46%	52%
5	Wyoming	.437	Republican	-40%	3/3 R	77/90 R	69%	28%
6	Iowa	.439	Republican	-2%	5/6 R	80/149 R	46%	52%
7	Wisconsin	.441	Democrat	1%	6/10 R	80/130 R	46%	53%
8	South Dakota	.444	Republican	-17%	3/3 R	84/103 R	58%	40%
9	Vermont	.445	Democrat	19%	3/3 D	118/180 D	31%	67%
10	Nebraska	.447	Republican	-16%	4/5 R	NP	61%	38%
11	Minnesota	.449	Democrat	6%	7/10 D	101/201 D	45%	53%
12	Indiana	.452	Republican	-4%	8/11 R	111/150	54%	44%
13T	Delaware	.452	Democrat	17%	3/3 D	37/62 D	40%	59%
13T	Maine	.452	Democrat	6%	2/4 D	98/186 D	41%	56%
15	Maryland	.452	Democrat	20%	9/10 D	123/188 D	37%	62%
16	Idaho	.453	Republican	-24%	4/4 R	84/105 R	65%	33%
17	Nevada	.455	Democrat	3%	4/6 R	38/63 R	46%	52%
18	Washington	.456	Democrat	7%	8/12 D	75/147 D	42%	56%
19	Colorado	.458	Republican	-4%	5/9 R	50/100 R	47%	51%
20	West Virginia	.458	Democrat	1%	4/5 R	82/134	62%	36%
21	Kansas	.460	Republican	-21%	6/6 R	130/165 R	60%	38%
22	Oregon	.462	Democrat	7%	6/7 D	53/90 D	43%	54%
23	Montana	.463	Republican	-13%	1/2 R	88/150 R	55%	42%
24	Missouri	.463	Republican	-3%	7/10 R	142/196 R	54%	44%
25	Ohio	.464	Democrat	0%	13/18 R	83/132 R	48%	50%
26	North Dakota	.466	Republican	-25%	2/3 R	104/143 R	59%	39%
27	Michigan	.467	Democrat	9%	9/16 R	90/148 R	45%	54%
28	Virginia	.468	Republican	-1%	8/13 R	89/140 R	48%	51%
29	Pennsylvania	.469	Democrat	3%	14/20 R	149/253 R	47%	52%
30	South Carolina	.470	Republican	-10%	8/9 R	103/167 R	55%	44%
31T	Arizona	.470	Republican	-1%	7/11 R	53/90 R	54%	44%
31T	Oklahoma	.470	Republican	-13%	7/7 R	112/149 R	67%	33%
33	Rhode Island	.473	Democrat	23%	4/4 D	97/113 D	36%	63%
34	Mississippi	.476	Republican	-6%	5/6 R	98/174 R	56%	44%
35	Arkansas	.477	Republican	-4%	6/6 R	87/134 R	61%	37%
36	North Carolina	.478	Republican	-1%	12/15 R	109/170 R	51%	48%
37	Kentucky	.478	Democrat	2%	7/8 R	72/135	61%	38%
38	Tennessee	.479	Republican	-7%	9/11 R	100/132 R	59%	39%
39	New Mexico	.480	Democrat	11%	4/5 D	58/112 D	43%	53%
40	Georgia	.480	Republican	-3%	12/16 R	155/234 R	53%	45%
41	Alabama	.481	Republican	-11%	8/9 R	98/129 R	61%	38%
42	Illinois	.482	Democrat	17%	11/20 D	110/177 D	41%	57%
43	Texas	.482	Republican	-4%	27/38 R	118/181 R	57%	41%
44	New Jersey	.483	Democrat	16%	8/14 D	72/120	41%	58%
45	Massachusetts	.485	Democrat	21%	11/11 D	159/200 D	38%	61%
46	Florida	.487	Democrat	5%	18/29 R	103/155 R	49%	50%
47	California	.488	Democrat	18%	41/55 D	78/120 D	38%	59%
48	Louisiana	.491	Republican	-2%	7/8 R	85/144	58%	41%
49	Connecticut	.492	Democrat	16%	7/7 D	108/187 D	40%	58%
50	New York	.514	Democrat	25%	20/28 D	137/213	36%	63%

Notes

• Nebraska's state legislature is Nonpartisan/Unicameral and thus party breakdown cannot be provided, this is indicated by a value of "NP."
• Since Independents overwhelmingly caucus as Democrats, they were classified as Democrats when counting Congress/State Legislature ratios. The only state really affected by this was Vermont which had 11 Independents at the state level and 1 at the federal level.
• A "T" at the end of a rank indicates a tie between states for that rank.

Analysis

Gallup polling generally lines up with how states voted for president in 2012. While states have increasingly become more Republican since 2012, the Gallup polling largely represents the ideology which has governed state employment in recent years, and a state's identity is generally clear. There are two states which should arguably be identified as Republican despite Gallup polling indicating they are narrowly Democrat, Kentucky and West Virginia. According to Gallup they narrowly polled Democrat, with 2% and 1% Democrat advantages respectively, yet both have elected more Republicans to both the state and federal legislature, and voted for Romney in 2012.