For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Karen Conner, news@epi.org202-775-8810

Stunning racial wealth gap

Wealth for the median black household has all but vanished, decreasing by more than 65 percent from $6,300 in 1983 to $2,200 in 2009.  As today’s Snapshot shows, while median wealth has fallen substantially among both white and black households since 2007, at $97,900, white median wealth remains higher than the 1983 level of $94,100. White median wealth is now 44.5 times higher than black median wealth.