BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -The gap between the rich and poor has grown faster in New England than in other areas of the country, according to a new report.

The University of New Hampshire study found that Vermont had the second greatest change in income disparity in the country after Connecticut between 1989 and 2004, although the state was not among those with the largest gaps.

“It surprised me,” said the study’s author, Ross Gittell, of the Vermont data. “I think there has been a takeoff at the top and a hollowing of the middle class,” said the professor at UNH’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

The region has gone from having one of the smallest income disparities to having one comparable to the national average, the study said.

Connecticut had the third highest disparity rate in 2004 while Massachusetts was No. 10. Vermont was ranked 31, up from 47; Maine ranked 40 and New Hampshire, 48.

Many wealthy people who earned their money elsewhere also retire in Vermont, he said.

From 1989 to 2004 inflation-adjusted incomes for the top 20 percent of Vermont households rose by 25.6 percent -the highest jump in New England – to $141,565.

Regionwide the richest households saw incomes rise by 19.8 percent to $184,828, compared to 17 percent nationally to $156,795 for the same tier.

But incomes for the bottom 5 percent of households fell by 5.1 percent in New England and 2.7 percent in Vermont while rising by an average of 4 percent nationally during the 15-year period, the study said.

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On the Net: Changes in Income Distribution in New England: http://www.bos.frb.org/commdev/c&b/2007/fall/Git

AP-ES-10-21-07 1214EDT