Many of us were raised on the myth of economic mobility in the United States, but data shows the opposite: wealth begets wealth. Individuals who accumulate wealth tend to pass it on to their descendants, and wealth is accumulated unevenly along racial lines. Economic justice requires changing the policies that consolidate wealth in the hands of a few, and creating economic stability for all.

Wealth — a household’s assets minus debts—is one measure of socioeconomic status. Wealth provides a cushion that can protect families from life shocks, such as losing a job, losing a house, incurring unexpected medical expenses, and other emergencies. Disparities in wealth are an important determinant of health, education, income, and general opportunity.

The racial wealth gap between Black and White families is illustrative of the need for economic justice. White parents typically have much more wealth than Black parents, and their children tend to follow their parents' wealth status, reproducing inequity for generations. On average in the United States, a typical White family has about 10 times more wealth than the typical Black family. In 2019, the median White family net worth in the U.S. was $188,200 , while the Black family net worth was $24,100. Black people make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, but own only 3 percent of the country's wealth. Over the past 70 years, the income and wealth gap between Black and White households has not narrowed.

Likewise, the racial wealth gap affects other populations as well. On average, White households have about 12 times more wealth than Indigenous households and 5 times more wealth than Latino/a households. The median household income for Indigenous people is $43,825 and $58,015 for Latino/a people, compared to $78,912 for White people. Black , Indigenous, and Latino/a people are often shut out of jobs that provide living wages and employer-sponsored benefits like health insurance and retirement savings, leaving less income for accumulating wealth.

Addressing Economic Justice

The racial wealth gap derives from centuries of policy choices. Settler colonialism facilitated the dispossession of Indigenous peoples through genocide, warfare, broken treaties, eugenics, forced assimilation, annexations, and removals. Twelve generations of Black Americans were forced to engage in unpaid labor that generated significant wealth for White families and the U.S. economy. Jim Crow laws excluded Black people from economic growth initiatives like the post-World War II G.I. Bill, which provided low interest loans to veterans . Redlining policies instituted by the Federal Housing Administration in the 1930s promoted investment in predominantly White neighborhoods while discouraging investment in predominantly Black neighborhoods. The systemic denial of housing loans and insurance to Black families kept property values low in Black neighborhoods and prevented Black families from choosing where to live. It also increased racial disparities in homeownership rates and home equity. A stark wage gap reflects the undervaluation and undercompensation of Black, Indigenous, and Latino/a people. Ongoing residential segregation, labor market discrimination, housing discrimination, and racialized criminalization contribute to the persistence of the racial wealth gap today.

In addition to instituting and upholding racist policies, those in power have wielded racist narratives and propaganda to impede broad multiracial coalition-building aimed at achieving economic justice for all. These racist ideas have not only stymied organizing efforts—they have also contributed to episodes of economic terrorism targeting Black people who succeed in building wealth. The 1921 riot and massacre that destroyed Tulsa, Oklahoma’s “Black Wall Street” is just one of many examples of how economic success by Black Americans has been violently undermined.

Racial Data Tracker Focus

The Racial Data Tracker provides data and visualizations for the following aspects of economic justice: poverty, net worth, economic well-being, assets, homeownership, and debts. Thirteen visualizations can be accessed via the Racial Wealth Gap homepage, and the data is available via our data repository. The visualizations highlight inequities in homeownership rates across racial groups at the national and state levels; trends in national and state poverty rates by race and ethnicity; and compare net worth and income between racial and ethnic groups. Although the wealth gap between Black and White families in the U.S. is the widest, the data show deep and persistent inequities along racial lines across every type of economic justice indicator: Black, American Indian & Alaska Native, and Multiracial people experience the lowest job; progress in closing racial unemployment gaps is stagnant; and persistent racial gaps remain in poverty rates despite four decades of decrease.