Lafayette, according to a report by 24/7 Wall St., ranks among the nation's top 10 cities with the widest gap between its haves and have nots.
Lafayette's River Ranch
According to the report, which was comprised using data from the 2012 Census, Lafayette ranks no. 7 among the nation's "Cities with the Widest Gap Between the Rich and Poor," with only 20 percent of the city's households accounting for more than 53 percent of the income. Lafayette's poor, on the other hand, account for only 3 percent of the area's income. The report also notes that while 6.1 percent of Lafayette's households make more than $200,000 annually - 0.2 percentage points higher than the national average - the area finished 2012 with a poverty rate of 17.9 percent, topping the national average by 2 percentage points.
On the bright side, the report does note Lafayette's income disparities aren't as bad as other metros included in the top 10, stating "The Lafayette area has a higher proportion of residents both among the top earners and the very poor, although not to the same extremes that some of the other metro areas with high inequality have."
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