Black families have significantly less cash reserves to draw upon than white families: Total value of all transaction accounts, for black and white families, by education, homeownership, and employment sector (mean values, 2016 dollars)
| Black | White | |
|---|---|---|
| All | $8,762 | $49,529 |
| Less than college | $5,289 | $20,289 |
| College or more | $20,893 | $96,930 |
| Homeowner | $15,129 | $63,543 |
| Non-homeowner | $3,742 | $13,596 |
| Industry classifications 1 | $17,558 | $37,768 |
| Industry classifications 2 | $9,344 | $54,633 |
| Industry classifications 3 | $5,830 | $47,529 |
Notes: White refers to non-Hispanic whites, black refers to blacks alone. Transaction accounts include checking or savings accounts, cash, prepaid cards, and directly held stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Industry classifications 1 include mining, construction, and manufacturing. Industry classifications 2 include transportation, communications, utilities and sanitary services, wholesale trade, finance, insurance, and real estate. Industry classifications 3 include agriculture, retail trade, services, and public administration. Race is the race of the survey respondent; industry classifications are for head of household. Education is the education level of the head of household.
Source: EPI analysis of Federal Reserve 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances combined extract data accessed from the UC Berkeley Survey Documentation and Analysis website. The 2016 survey is the most recent survey available.