The Gaps Between White and Black America, in Charts
Unemployment rate,
age 16 years and over
Share of people who completed four years of college
or more
36%
Black
26%
6.5%
3.5%
White
1960
2018
1962
2019
Median household income
Homeownership rate
$82K
73%
$53K
42%
2018
1960
1983
2019
Sentenced male prisoners per 100,000 residents of the corresponding group
Life expectancy at birth
78.8
75.3
2,272
392
1960
2017
2000
2018
Unemployment rate, age 16 years and over
Share of people 25 years and over who completed four years of college or more
Median household income
36%
$82K
Black
26%
$53K
6.5%
3.5%
White
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
Sentenced male prisoners per 100,000 residents of the corresponding group
Life expectancy at birth
Homeownership rate
78.8
73%
75.3
2,272
392
42%
1990
2000
2010
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2000
2005
2010
2015
Unemployment rate, age 16 years and over
Share of people 25 years and over who completed four years of college or more
36%
26%
6.5%
3.5%
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
Median household income
Homeownership rate
$82K
73%
$53K
42%
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1990
2000
2010
Sentenced male prisoners per 100,000 residents of the corresponding group
Life expectancy at birth
78.8
75.3
2,272
392
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2000
2005
2010
2015
In many parts of the country, black and white Americans continue to live in very different worlds. This distinctive feature of American inequality is not an accidental development but rather a result of policy choices.
Our nation’s approach to urban policy has rarely attempted to invest the resources needed to overcome the effects of decades of racial discrimination in struggling neighborhoods. Instead, it has repeatedly made it easier for most white people to isolate themselves in communities that are largely physically separated from communities marked by joblessness, concentrated poverty, environmental hazards, disease and violence.
Black neighborhoods are often vital centers of black culture, community and political power. Yet they have not received investments that are customary in white neighborhoods, including well-resourced schools and investments in public services. Instead, they have been subject to injustices and disadvantages such as fraudulent lending practices, housing discrimination and aggressive policing and prosecution.
Indeed, a defining feature of American inequality is that the nation’s most pressing social challenges are disproportionately concentrated in black communities.
Racial inequality persists in many social and economic domains, including home ownership and income, as shown in the charts above. But these forms of inequality are most pronounced when we look at black and white neighborhoods.
Consider unemployment. During the Great Recession of 2007 to 2010, the unemployment rate among the black population peaked at 16.8 percent, while the highest rate for the white population was 9.2 percent. During the current economic crisis, fewer than half of black adults are able to keep their jobs.
Median unemployment rate, by metro area
In recent years the median unemployment rate in major metropolitan areas was between 3 and 10 percent.
But in some majority-black neighborhoods, the median unemployment rate was as high as almost 30 percent. Even in less extreme cases, it was still nearly 10 percentage points higher than in majority-white areas.
The gap in high school completion rates between white and black Americans has narrowed substantially over the last 40 years, but racial equity in higher education remains a distant goal. Rates of completion for college are much lower among people of color, who are also underrepresented in fields like mathematics and statistics, engineering, the physical sciences and education.
Median share with bachelor’s degree and higher, by metro area
Here is the median share of people with at least a bachelor’s degree.
But when comparing majority-white and majority-black neighborhoods, the median share of people with at least a bachelor’s degree is much different. In some cities, the number is two to three times higher in majority-white neighborhoods than in majority-black neighborhoods.
In San Francisco, for example, almost 7 in 10 people living in white neighborhoods have at least a bachelor’s degree. The same is true for only one-fifth of residents of black communities in that city.
Over the past two decades, as the rich got richer, the income gap between white and black Americans also grew steadily.
Median household income, by metro area
Income data largely mirror educational attainment rates, with big coastal cities having the highest median household income.
But even in the most affluent urban areas, majority-black neighborhoods tend to have a much lower median household income.
Median household income in majority-white neighborhoods of Minneapolis-St. Paul is more than double than that of majority-black neighborhoods. In San Francisco, it’s more than three times as big.
Why are black and white neighborhoods so unequal? The explanation is historical and complex, involving race restrictive housing covenants that prevented home sales to minorities, banks that discriminated against people of color seeking to borrow money to buy homes, and strategic siting of interstate highways and public housing developments to solidify the boundaries of segregation.
The effects of those policies persist to this day, and have been reinforced by land use and building code requirements that keep affordable housing out of certain neighborhoods, predatory lending practices that lead to foreclosures, and a reluctance to vigorously enforce existing civil rights laws that prevent discrimination in home sales, rentals, and lending.
As a result, the United States has enormous and persistent racial gaps in home ownership. And inequality in homeownership has played an important role in contributing to gaps in wealth accumulation.
Median homeownership rate, by metro area
Median homeownership rates are similar in most urban areas and, with a few exceptions, hover around 70 percent.
But in majority-black neighborhoods, homeownership rates are frequently well below 50 percent.
In Albany, N.Y., and Atlantic City, N.J., the gap between white and black neighborhoods reaches a staggering 40 and 50 percentage points, respectively.
The costs of segregation are amplified by how we invest and disinvest in cities and neighborhoods. If black and white neighborhoods received the same resources and had the same political influence, segregation would not lead to so much inequality. These inequities have been not only an urban phenomenon but also a suburban phenomenon, following black families as they have moved into suburban communities.
From the 1970s to the 1990s, segregated, low-income neighborhoods became the focal point for a new style of aggressive policing and prosecution. Although violence has fallen sharply since the mid-1990s, that style of policing has remained intact.
Median share of incarcerated males, by metro area
In most urban areas, the rate of incarceration in state and federal prisons among the male population is below 5 percent.
In certain cities, incarceration rates among males who grew up in majority-black neighborhoods are two to more than 10 times higher than among males who grew up in majority-white neighborhoods.
The criminal justice system has become a central institution in the lives of men raised in majority-black neighborhoods, including those in and around Dover, Del., and Harrisburg, Pa.
The racial gap in life expectancy has narrowed from 1960 to the present. The decline in the national murder rate from the early 1990s to the present has had a particularly large impact on the life expectancy of black men, who have benefited the most from the drop in violent crime.
But even with these improvements, black Americans can expect to live a few years less than white Americans.
Median life expectancy at birth, by metro area
In almost every urban area, the median life expectancy hovers around 78 years.
But life expectancy in majority-white neighborhoods is several years higher than in majority-black neighborhoods.
Urban areas like Omaha, Neb., have even larger gaps. Life expectancy in majority-black neighborhoods in and around Omaha is roughly 10 years lower than in majority-white neighborhoods.
America faces challenges that are national in scope, but they look very different in neighborhoods stratified by race, ethnicity and income. So far, our nation’s approach to urban policy has undermined efforts to build more inclusive communities and solve America’s major social problems. But today’s surge of momentum to end police violence and all other forms of racial injustice is a sign of hope that a collective solution is possible.
Patrick Sharkey (@patrick_sharkey) is a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and the author of “Stuck in Place: Urban Neighborhoods and the End of Progress Toward Racial Equality.”
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (@keeangayamahtta) is a contributing Opinion writer, an assistant professor of African-American studies at Princeton University and the author of “Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership.”
Yaryna Serkez (@iarynam) is a graphics editor for Opinion.
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