The racial income gap in the United States mapped

June 17, 2020 Alex

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Since the U.S. Congress enacted the Fair Housing Act in 1968, wealth amongst white households has significantly increased while wealth in black households has frozen.

According to the Survey of Consumer Finances, in 1968, a representative middle-class black household had $6,674 in wealth, while median middle-class white household had $70,786. In 2016, the representative middle-class black household had $13,024 in wealth, while the typical white household had $149,703. The wealth gap has only continued to increase.

HowMuch.net took a glance at the data concerning the median income gap within Black and white households in the U.S. and made a map clearly illustrating the inequality in income across the nation.

Map of racial income inequality in the U.S. — *HowMuch.net; Data: US Census Bureau*

According to the map, Wyoming is the only one state in the U.S. where the median wealth for Black households is higher than that of white households ($89.9K vs $62.3K), but this number is possibly biased by state’s low population; contrariwise, Washington DC has the most severe median income gap in the United States with a 66.88% gap, and Wisconsin is the U.S. state with the most dangerous racial imbalance, at 51.25%.

Racial disparity is a problem throughout the United States, not only in the South. The lowest gap among black American and white households in the Northwest.