Housing inequality: The tale of two communities

Nowhere is the divide between rich and poor more apparent than in the backyard.

Home values in the top 10% wealthiest communities are worth more than six times that in the bottom 40%, a new survey has found.

Put another way, these rich communities hold nearly 52% of housing wealth, compared to only 8% owned by the lower rungs, according to The Demand Institute, which assessed 2,200 largest communities across the nation. MORE

America's most unequal cities

And the most unequal city in America is… Atlanta! Where the rich earn nearly 19 times the poor.

A new study from the Brookings Institute analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau and ranked America's 50 largest cities. It compared the household income of the richest in each city -- defined as the 95%th percentile -- with that of the poorest, or the bottom 20% of households.

But the reason Atlanta is so MORE

Want to see a doctor? Be prepared to wait!

Need to see a doctor, but it's not an emergency? You might have to wait a few weeks, though it depends on where you live.

Dallas residents may be able to get an appointment to see a family physician in five days, on average, but Bostonians might have to flip two months ahead on the calendar to mark the first available appointment for new patients.

Merritt Hawkins, a physician recruitment firm, surveyed MORE

Chocolate-making jobs on the decline

If takes fewer workers to make your Valentine's Day chocolates these days.

Americans consume about 5.5 pounds of cocoa beans a year, about the same as they did 20 years ago. Meanwhile, American jobs producing the candy have been on the decline.

In 1990, about 54,000 Americans worked at facilities making chocolate candy, but now only 38,000 do.

The decline reflects two broader trends playing out in the manufacturing industry: Technology is eliminating MORE

91 million Americans aren't looking for jobs

The unemployment rate isn't always the best measure of the job market, because it only includes people who have actively searched for work within the last four weeks. Many Americans just aren't looking for jobs.

In fact, about 91 million adult Americans don't work, and aren't looking for jobs. They make up 37% of the population -- the highest level on record since 1978.

Yes, some of them are workers who've been MORE