--- title: These Are the 10 Cities Where Inequality Is Increasing the Fastest description: In the U.S., the middle vs top income gap widened by $58,800, to $308,600, with the biggest income inequality gap growth in San Francisco. authors: - name: Rob Wile url: https://money.com/author/rob-wile/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 191 covers: - Economy and Politics - Business - Career Advice - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/rjwile former_staff: true published: '2017-04-26T18:51:14.000Z' modified: '2017-04-26T18:51:14.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Earnings - income - income gap - The Economy - wage gap word_count: 260 canonical: https://money.com/income-inequality-best-worst-cities/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Victorian house at a steep road, San Francisco, California, USA, America](https://img.money.com/2017/04/incomegapsanfrancisco-em-140516729.jpg) *San Francisco has seen the biggest increase in the income gap of any U.S. city.* Sure enough, the rich keep getting richer. In fact, a new report indicates that the income gap between rich and middle-class workers has grown—in many cases, at an astonishing pace—in nearly every major U.S. city in recent years. According to Census data [crunched by *Bloomberg*](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-26/america-s-rich-poor-divide-keeps-ballooning-as-robots-take-jobs), the gap between America's wealthiest households (the top 5 percent of income earners) and middle-class ones (the middle-20 percent) grew in 96 of the 100 largest American metropolitan areas between 2010 and 2015. For the U.S. as a whole, this gap widened by $58,800 from 2010 to 2015. As of 2015, someone in the top 5 percent of earners was making an average of $308,600 more than a counterpart in the middle-class. Here are the 10 cities with the biggest changes in their upper- versus middle-income gaps. In some cases, income inequality has grown so swiftly that the gap now measures around $500,000 or more: 1. San Francisco: $142,300 (Size of 2015 gap: $492,00) 2. San Jose: $122,100 (Size of 2015 gap: $468,600) 3. Grand Rapids: $99,300 (Size of 2015 gap: $282,800) 4. Austin: $97,100 (Size of 2015 gap: $357,900) 5. Des Moines: $90,500 (Size of 2015 gap: $293,800) 6. Seattle: $85,200 (Size of 2015 gap: $344,600) 7. Bridgeport: $81,300 (Size of 2015 gap: $691,700) 8. Charleston: $80,100 (Size of 2015 gap: $302,800) 9. Denver: $80,000 (Size of 2015 gap: $347,100) 10. Dallas: $77,700 (Size of 2015 gap: $344,000) The gap also widened between the top 20 percent and bottom 20 percent households in all 100 metropolitan statistical areas. Here, the gap widened by $29,200, and now measures $189,600. 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