The city ranked just ahead of New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Miami in having the largest gap between the rich and the poor.
Possible explanations for the ranking include the city's large number of college students, who often have no income, authorities said.
The economic downturn, which hit the city hard and made up a big part of the five-year study period, led to unemployment and reduced income, said Barry Hirsch, a Georgia State University economics professor. Also, some wealthy neighborhoods such as Buckhead heighten the income disparity, experts said.
The report was based on data taken from the American Community Survey.
``There's nothing good about it,'' University of Georgia professor Doug Bachtel said of income inequality. ``There's too much dysfunction associated with it.''
A spokesperson for Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said the office had not seen the report and couldn't immediately comment.
Metro Atlanta fared far differently than the city of Atlanta.
The metro area had lower income inequality than the nationwide average of metro areas during the five-year period. New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Houston and Memphis ranked as the top five metro areas highest in income inequality.
``Metro Atlanta looks pretty good,'' said Mike Alexander, research division chief at the Atlanta Regional Commission.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/10/243146