VIRGINIANS' INCOMES CONTINUE TO STAGNATE
AND DISPARITIES WIDEN, U.VA. STUDY SHOWS

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 7 -- In keeping with national
trends, Virginians' real incomes have continued to stagnate and
disparities between rich and poor have widened further in recent
years, an analysis of the latest available state income tax figures
by a University of Virginia economist shows.  The income gap between
wealthier and less wealthy localities also is growing.  
	The median adjusted gross income (AGI) on married couples's
state tax returns for 1993 was $41,582, according to the study, the
latest in an annual series of AGI analyses from U.Va.'s Weldon
Cooper Center for Public Service.  The median is the midpoint; half
of married couples earned more and half earned less.
	After adjusting for inflation, this key benchmark figure
represented a rise of only 0.3 percent from the previous year, said
economist Samuel Kaplan, author of the study.  In terms of
Virginians' buying power, the 1993 median figure was roughly at the
same level as in 1986.
	The median income for married couples has grown only about
0.7 percent a year on average since 1972, after adjusting for
inflation, Kaplan said.
	In 1993 the five localities with the highest married
couples' incomes were all in Northern Virginia's prosperous suburbs.
Fairfax County led the way with a median of $68,281.
	The bottom five localities were all rural counties,
including Lee, Dickenson and Grayson counties in Southwest Virginia,
Lunenburg County in Southside, and Northampton County on the Eastern
Shore.  Lee County ranked lowest at $22,646.
	Income inequality continued to grow in Virginia in 1993,
according to the study. 
	An index of income concentration, which measures the gap
between high and low incomes on tax returns, increased slightly in
1993 in Virginia and has been increasing since 1975, Kaplan said.
	Not only was the gap widening for the state as a whole, it
increased within 84 of the state's 136 cites and counties. 
	Tax-return analyses also show that disparities between
Virginia's richer and poorer localities have been widening since
1980, Kaplan said.  And measuring income disparities through tax
returns doesn't include those with incomes so low they don't have to
file, Kaplan pointed out. 
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March 6, 1996
	For additional information or interviews about the study,
"Virginia AGI," Samuel Kaplan may be reached at (804) 982-5819 or by
e-mail at kaplan@virginia.edu.