{"id":15511,"date":"2013-08-27T10:15:07","date_gmt":"2013-08-27T15:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/are-blacks-as-financially-well-off-as-whites-depends-on-whom-you-ask\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:30:06","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:30:06","slug":"are-blacks-as-financially-well-off-as-whites-depends-on-whom-you-ask","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/08\/27\/are-blacks-as-financially-well-off-as-whites-depends-on-whom-you-ask\/","title":{"rendered":"Are blacks as financially well off as whites? Depends on whom you ask"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite large and persistent gaps between blacks and whites on virtually every indicator of economic well-being, about half of all whites say the average black person is about as well off financially or doing better than the average white person, according to a survey<\/a> released last week by the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n\n

The survey found that 53% of whites say that, on average, blacks are \u201cabout as well off\u201d financially as whites (43%) or say blacks are doing better (10%).<\/p>\n\n

\"FT-black-white-financial-gap-01\"<\/figure>\n\n

But when you ask black Americans the same question, about six-in-ten blacks (59%) say, on average, blacks are worse off financially than whites.<\/p>\n\n

Among blacks, about a third (36%) say the average black person is doing better or about as well off as the average white person.<\/p>\n\n

So how does perception square with reality?<\/p>\n\n

On the eve of 50th<\/sup> anniversary of Martin Luther King\u2019s historic \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech, decades of government data<\/a> finds that blacks have consistently lagged far behind whites on most indicators of economic well-being<\/a>. If anything, the gaps on some key measures have grown over the years.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

For example, the median household income of a family of three in 2011 was $39,760 for blacks but $67,175 for whites. That\u2019s a difference of about $27,000, up roughly $8,000 since 1967.<\/p>\n\n

The race gap between blacks and whites on median household wealth, measured in terms of net assets minus liabilities, has increased as well, from $75,224 in 1984 to $84,960 in 2011. During this period, the median net worth of an average black family actually declined slightly from $7,150 to $6,446.<\/p>\n\n

One big reason for the wealth gap: Blacks are significantly less likely than whites to own their own homes (44% vs. 73%), and a home comprises the bulk of most family\u2019s net worth.<\/p>\n\n

Blacks also were about three times as likely as whites in 2011 to be living below the poverty line (28% vs. 10%). This gap has remained about the same in recent decades.<\/p>\n\n

Perceptions of how blacks and whites are associated with other views on race. For example, about six-in-ten (58%) of those who say blacks are doing worse also say the country needs to make \u201ca lot\u201d more progress to achieve equality between the races, a view shared by 43% of those who say blacks are doing the same or better than whites.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite large and persistent gaps between blacks and whites on virtually every indicator of economic well-being, about half of all whites say the average black person is about as well off financially or doing better than the average white person, according to a survey released last week by the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[234,239,242,237,240,28,241,158],"bylines":[941],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-15511","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-business-workplace","category-economic-inequality","category-homeownership-renting","category-personal-finances","category-poverty","category-race-ethnicity","category-wealth","category-white-americans","bylines-rich-morin","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":369,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/08\/27\/are-blacks-as-financially-well-off-as-whites-depends-on-whom-you-ask\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Are blacks as financially well off as whites? 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