( CNN ) -- Last year , after CNN readers voted for me to do a story on income inequality , I spent two weeks reporting from what was then the `` most unequal place in America '' : East Carroll Parish , Louisiana . It 's a tiny patch of land on the western bank of the Mississippi River -- home to a beautiful oxbow lake called Lake Providence . That lake , I found , is a stark barrier between rich and poor -- and a fitting microcosm for inequality across the nation . My goal in reporting on the parish , on your behalf , was to spark a national conversation on income inequality that could , in some small way , help push for change . I 'm now happy to report that the level of income inequality in East Carroll Parish , while still quite high , has dropped considerably . New York is now the worst . East Carroll Parish went from top-of-list to No . 128 . Manhattan -- or New York County -- has the highest inequality rating , followed by Borden County , Texas ; Franklin County , Mississippi ( which I visited in 2013 for a very different kind of story ) ; Mineral County , Colorado ; and Greene County , Georgia , according to census data released on Thursday . The new data is part of the American Community Survey , and is an average of data from the years 2009 to 2013 . The census , and many economists , use a wonky metric called the `` Gini coefficient '' to measure how income is spread across a particular society or geography . A rating of zero means a society is perfectly equal -- or that everyone has the same level of income . A rating of one means that literally all the income falls into the hands of one man or woman . East Carroll Parish had a rating of 0.67 in 2011 , which was the most recent data available when I traveled to the parish . Now , its rating is 0.50 , which is n't that much higher than the U.S. Gini coefficient , which is 0.47 , according to the census . `` It 's a big change , '' Kirby Posey , a survey statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau said of the shift in East Carroll Parish . It 's also one , he said , that 's statistically significant when you compare 2011 data from the parish to the current set . New York County 's inequality , meanwhile , has remained constant over the same period , holding steady at about 0.60 . Mind you , that level of inequality is still not good . The United States is one of the most economically split nations in the world -- with more income inequality than Nigeria or Russia . The most equal country , according to CIA data , is Sweden , with a rating of 0.23 . Also , there 's a lag in data reporting . The most recent numbers , those released on Thursday , come from interviews that were taken between 2009 and 2013 as part of the American Community Survey . So it 's difficult to get an exact snapshot of this moment . I do , however , find East Carroll Parish 's drop in inequality promising . It 's hard , from my desk in Atlanta , to tease out exactly how and why this shift occurred in East Carroll Parish . Posey , from the census , was n't sure , either . I left messages with the sheriff of East Carroll Parish and the mayor of Lake Providence , among others , but I have n't heard back from them . I 'll update this piece if and when I do . The one resident I could reach was Bernadette Barrett , or `` Sister Bernie , '' as she 's known locally , because she 's an Irish Catholic nun . She told me some new jobs -- including those with a pepper farm and at a chemical processing plant -- have come to town , or are coming soon . `` Some people have gotten employed there -- so that 's helping bring people up , '' she said . She told me there 's talk of a new tomato cannery in town , too . The numbers , however , indicate something else may be at play : The rich are getting less rich . The average income for the top 5 % of earners in the parish was $ 610,884 in 2011 -- but fell sharply to only $ 165,017 in 2013 , the data show . The average income for the top 20 % fell from $ 224,264 to $ 97,104 over the same period . It 's unclear what would have caused that plunge . There have been symbolic signs of progress , though . Among them is that locals and volunteers finished painting a mural downtown . It features a crossword puzzle with words like `` believe , '' `` hope '' and `` change . '' It also includes a painting of Dede Willis , a young woman who was featured in the video on the income gap in Lake Providence , which I produced with videographer Edythe McNamee . I 'll leave you for now with something Willis , then 18 , told us on our visit : `` If one day someone just came ( and said ) , 'Dede , here 's a million dollars , do whatever you want , ' I would build a huge bridge across the lake . And then , after a while , ( the rich and the poor ) are not going to have a choice but to talk to each other . '' My hope is that Dede 's bridge , at least symbolically , is already being built .
CNN 's Joe Sutter looks at new income inequality data from the census . New York County has the highest poverty level , according to the data . The Carroll , Parish , Louisiana , which Sutter featured last year , drops to 0 . 5 . Sutter celebrates the news as a sign that things are changing in that rural community .