Berkeley is known across the country as one of the Bay Area's most liberal corners. But now it can also be known as the city with the widest wealth gap in the Bay Area.
The Bay Citizen drudged through Census Bureau data to discover that the liberal East Bay city has the biggest gap between the wealthy and the poor in the area.
About 10 percent of Berkeley households live on less than $10,000 a year, a number well below the poverty rate.
Berkeley has the widest gap between rich and poor in the Bay Area, the Bay Citizen reports citing date from the Census Bureau.
The city has some of the wealthiest mansions in the region, and yet 10 percent of households in the city get by on less than $10,000 a year.
Also high on the list in the Census Bureau report are Burlingame, Menlo Park, Oakland, Palo Alto and San Francisco.
City leaders told the digital paper they were not surprised by the data.
"We talk about the war in Afghanistan and support Bradley Manning, but we don’t do enough for the people in our own community," Councilman Jesse Arreguín told The Bay Citizen.
Burlingame, Menlo Park, Oakland, Palo Alto and San Francisco also ranked high on the study.
But by comparison, the Bay Area gaps were not as wide as national leaders, such as Los Angeles and Manhattan.
