Income Inequality in Tourism-Dependent Counties in the United States

Over the last 50 years income inequality has been increasing in the United States. For example, the share of adults in upper-income households increased from only 14% in 1971 to 20% in 2019. Conversely, the share of lower-income households increased from 25% to 29% in the same time period. Many factors such as the rise of skill premium and educational inequities have contributed to this rise in inequality. This project specifically focuses on how pronounced the effect of tourism is on income inequality at the county level in the United States. In-depth economic and social analyses will determine the impact of tourism on income inequality using data from the 2009 and 2019 five-year estimates of the American Community Survey. Data are from all 3220 counties across the United States. This study analyses the relationship between employment in tourism-related industries and income inequality using employment percentages from accommodation, entertainment, recreation, arts, and food service industries. Income inequality is measured by the common indicator, the Gini coefficient. Additionally, data on median household income and poverty rate are included to give a clearer picture of total inequality in each county across the country. Results show that higher percentages of tourism-related employment are associated with greater measures of inequality, higher Gini coefficient, lower median income, and higher poverty rates. These results are significant at the 99^th percentile.