There’s an old saying that says “The rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting poorer”. It speaks to the fact that it doesn’t seem like as many people are working their way from little to nothing into wealth. 

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Maybe the phrase came from a time period when there weren’t that many wealthy people around, but it for sure helps drive home the point that it’s easier to get richer when you are already rich. 

I thought about that phrase when I came across this story from The Minnesota Reformer, which I had never heard of before now. 

The story says that the wealthiest communities in Minnesota are around ten times richer than the poorer neighborhoods and communities around the state. 

For instance, this report says that the average median households in the western part of the metro in Minneapolis earn around $400,000 per year. That includes Lake Minnetonka, Plymouth, and Maple Grove. Compare that to those in South Minneapolis, and West St. Paul, where the median household is around $40,000. 

The story also says that the most money is still being held by fewer and fewer families. These findings aren’t exclusive to Minnesota, the nationwide trend is similar amongst other states around the nation. 

The reasons for these numbers include less good paying blue-collar jobs in the marketplace, and the better paying jobs are concentrated in metro areas and not as much in more rural areas anymore.  

These facts make it harder for residents in smaller, more rural areas to have the opportunities that were once available. That means more of the higher paying jobs led people to living in a few areas around each state, typically the higher populated areas in the bigger cities.  

There are other factors that go into the report compiled by the Survey of Consumer Finances, but this seems to confirm the old saying, the rich are getting richer.  

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