Racial Wealth Inequality Is Rampant In The U.S.

With the United States on course to become "majority minority" by 2044, the country still has a profound and growing racial and ethnic wealth gap. A new study published by Prosperity Now and the Institute for Policy Studies found that white households in the middle-income quintile own nearly eight times as much wealth as middle-income black earners and ten times as much as middle-income latino earners. A year ago, the same study claimed that if current trends continue, it will take average latino and black families 84 and 228 years respectively to reach the same level of wealth enjoyed by white families today.

The sheer scale of the problem can be seen from the following infographic. Since 1983, black and latino families have experienced a steep fall in wealth from $6,000 and $4,000 to just $1,700 and $2,000 respectively in 2013. Despite taking a considerable hit during the financial crisis, white households still had a median wealth of $116,800 in 2013. The study projects that the wealth gap will widen further in the coming years with black household wealth set to fall 30 percent between today and 2024. The median latino household will also see its wealth fall 20 percent by 2024 while white households will record a five percent increase.