The growth in macro‐level income inequality in the United States is well established, but less is known about patterns of inequality at subnational scales and how they vary between and within rural and urban localities. Using data from the Decennial Census and American Community Survey, we produce estimates of within‐county income inequality from 1970 to 2016 and analyze differences in inequality levels, the persistence of high (low) inequality, and populations' exposure to high (low) inequality across the rural‐urban continuum. We find that income inequality has historically been higher in non‐metropolitan than metropolitan counties, but inequality levels converged by 2016 due to growing inequality in metropolitan counties. Additionally, levels of inequality were generally persistent within counties over time, except that counties characterized by low inequality in 1970 were unlikely to remain as such in 2016. Third, non‐trivial shares of the metropolitan population resided in low‐inequality contexts in 1970, but virtually none of the U.S. population resided in such places by 2016. Residence in high‐inequality counties is normative in rural and urban America. This statistical analysis provides an updated portrait of income inequality across the rural‐urban continuum, and should spur additional research on stratification in rural America during an era of growing inequality.

中文翻译：

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美国城乡连续体的收入不平等，1970 年至 2016 年*


美国宏观层面收入不平等的加剧是众所周知的，但人们对地方层面的不平等模式以及农村和城市地区之间和内部的不平等情况知之甚少。利用十年一次的人口普查和美国社区调查的数据，我们对 1970 年至 2016 年县内收入不平等进行了估计，并分析了不平等水平的差异、高（低）不平等的持续性以及人口面临高（低）不平等的程度跨越城乡连续体。我们发现，历史上非大城市县的收入不平等程度高于大城市县，但由于大城市县的不平等现象日益加剧，不平等水平到 2016 年趋同。此外，随着时间的推移，县内的不平等程度普遍持续存在，但 1970 年不平等程度较低的县不太可能在 2016 年保持这种状态。第三，1970 年大都市人口中很大一部分生活在不平等程度较低的环境中。但到 2016 年，几乎没有美国人居住在这些地方。居住在高度不平等的县在美国农村和城市都是常态。这项统计分析提供了整个城乡收入不平等的最新情况，并应促进对不平等日益加剧的时代美国农村分层的更多研究。