Older Black and Hispanic working households were stretched thin before the COVID-19 pandemic and recession hit: Share of working households ages 55–64 that are financially fragile, by race and ethnicity, 1992–2018

Year White Black Hispanic
1992 22.9% 43.3% 43.0%
1994 20.7% 41.8% 38.2%
1996 22.7% 40.4% 39.9%
1998 22.8% 43.0% 43.8%
2000 23.5% 46.7% 43.8%
2002 23.1% 45.6% 38.5%
2004 27.6% 49.9% 38.4%
2006 27.0% 47.8% 44.6%
2008 32.1% 54.2% 39.4%
2010 34.9% 56.5% 49.4%
2012 35.7% 54.5% 46.0%
2014 34.3% 51.8% 49.9%
2016 33.6% 54.1% 45.5%
2018 33.4% 57.0% 50.7%

 

Notes: A household is deemed financially fragile if it exceeds at least one of four thresholds: a home mortgage loan-to-value ratio above 80%; a ratio of nonhousing debt to liquid assets above 50%; less than three months’ worth of income in liquid assets; or rent exceeding 30% of income. Sample includes households with at least one working member and one member age 55–64. For married and partnered households, income percentiles are determined based on total household income divided by 1.7 to account for the fact that living expenses for couples are higher than—but less than double—the expenses of single householders.

Source: Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA) analysis of Health and Retirement Study (HRS) microdata (RAND and University of Michigan 1992–2018).

View the underlying data on epi.org.