Chart of the Day: Racial Inequality in Wealth over Time

People often talk about income inequality, but wealth inequality is its cumulative effect (compounded by things like real estate value and other assets). When you start talking about wealth, race, and real estate, society get problematic really quickly.

Here’s a chart:

wealth-disparity

This is via some website called datatools:

In 1963, the average wealth of white families was $117,000 higher than the average wealth of nonwhite families. By 2013, the average wealth of white families was over $500,000 higher than the average wealth of African American families ($95,000) and of Hispanic families ($112,000). Put another way, white families on average had seven times the wealth of African American families and six times the wealth of Hispanic families in 2013. The ratio of white to African American or Hispanic family wealth remained extremely high over this period and deteriorated in recent years.

Anyway, many people are left behind in this country, and (IMO) the disparate advantages of home ownership multiplied over time is one big reason why.

Bill Lindeke

About Bill Lindeke

Pronouns: he/him

Bill Lindeke has writing blogging about sidewalks and cities since 2005, ever since he read Jane Jacobs. He is a lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Minnesota Geography Department, the Cityscape columnist at Minnpost, and has written multiple books on local urban history. He was born in Minneapolis, but has spent most of his time in St Paul. Check out Twitter @BillLindeke or on Facebook.