Skip to content
More support
Sign In
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

GINI Index of Income Inequality Data

A summary of the Census GINI Index of Income Inequality Data specification.

1.0 Introduction

The GINI Index of Income Inequality datasets are reported once per year by the United States Census. Through statistical means, the data reflect the income dispersion across a defined boundary. The dataset is available to download through the Urban SDK Data Hub for the years 2015 - 2020. The data has been aggregated to the census tract.

The GINI index is a statistical measure, used to explain income inequality. The index calculates a value between 0 -1. GINI values of 0 indicate perfect equality (where the population receives an equal share), to 1, perfect inequality (where only one recipient or group of recipients in the population receives all of the income).

The GINI coefficient is calculated by the mathematical difference between the Lorenz curve (the observed cumulative income distribution) and the notion of perfectly equal income distribution.

GINI Coefficient Categories

Scores range from 0 to 1

  • Zero = perfect equality

  • 1 = perfect inequality

2.0 Data Specification

The following table is the format in which downloaded GINI Index of Income Inequality data will be provided:

Field

Type

Description

geo_id

String

14-digit code relating the data to the correct geolocation.

census_tract_code

String

The unique identifier provided by the US Census for each census tract.

sub_category

String

GINI Index.

unit

String

Arbitrary.

value

Float

GINI calculation of equality (between 0-1).

year

String

Year data was collected.

county_name

String

Name of the county that the census tract resides in.

state_name

String

Name of the state that the census tract resides in.

geometry

String

The GIS information required for the computer to read the mapping file.

💡Tip: The “GEO.ID” field contains 14-digit codes that identify the summary level of data, the geographic component of the data, and FIPS codes that uniquely identify the data. For example, the 14-digit “GEO.ID” for Harris County, TX is “0500000US48201” where “050” represents the summary level of the data, “0000” represents the 2-digit geographic variant, and the 2-digit geographic component, “US” represents the United States, “48” represents the state of Texas and “201” represents Harris County.