INCOME, WEALTH, AND POVERTY
BY RACE AND HISPANIC ORIGIN

1. The relationship between White real median income and that of other groups continues to show a substantial gap. For example, Black median income in 2003 was only 59 percent that of White.

Median Household Income by Race and Hispanic Origin: 2003
( excepted from “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage: 2003, U.S. Census, Statistical Abstract, pp.3-9)

2. While looking at the differences among median household income provides one picture of relative economic well-being, an even more telling portrait comes from looking at the differences in wealth. For example, Hispanic households have less than ten cents for every dollar of wealth owned by White households. (This and the following information is excerpted from, “The Wealth of Hispanic Households: 1996-2002. Pew Hispanic Center )

Major findings of the Pew Report were:

a) the median net worth of Hispanic households in 2002 was $7,932 or only 9 percent that of the $88,651 net worth of White households; Black households were even worse off at $5,988 or 6.7 percent of White's;

b) between 1999-2001, Black and Hispanic net worth on the one hand and White net worth on the other moved in opposite directions. The net world of Hispanic and Black households fell by 27 percent while that of White households rose by 2 percent;

c) home-ownership is much lower among non-whites and a principal reason for the differences in net worth. In 2002, 74.3 percent of Whites owned homes compared to 47.3 percent of Hispanics and 47.7 percent of Blacks; and

d) Black and Hispanic households also do not own any non-home financial assets: more than 25 percent of Hispanics and Black households own no such assets compared to only 6 percent of Whites.

3. The relatively low median incomes and wealth of blacks and Hispanics contributes to continued high levels of poverty. For each group, as shown in Table 2, including Whites as a whole, the percent below the poverty line increased between 2002-2003.

Percent Below Poverty by Race and Hispanic Origin: 2002-2003
( excepted from Table 3)

(Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage: 2003, U.S. Census, Statistical Abstract, p.12)

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