Income Of U.S. Blacks Rises But Historical Gap Remains Says Raj Chetty Study
(Photo: Raj Chetty, Harvard University)
July 26, 2024
Over the past 15 years, incomes of children in Black communities rose across all parental income levels, according to a study led by Raj Chetty. For Blacks born in 1992 in low-income families – bottom 25% - starting average annual income at age 27 was $21,500, an increase of $1,400 compared to those born in 1978. Similarly, for Blacks born in 1992 in high income families – top 25% - average income was $30,600, a rise of $1,200.
Overall, Black children born in 1978 in low-income families were 14.7 percentage points more likely to remain in the bottom quintile than their white counterparts. For Blacks born in 1992, this gap shrank to 4.1 percentage points — a roughly three quarters reduction in the racial gap in the intergenerational persistence of poverty over just 15 years.
The rising incomes of Blacks does not come at the expense of whites, the study notes. In areas, such as Charlotte, North Carolina, and Grand Rapids, Michigan where Black children’s outcomes improved most, are the same regions where white children’s outcomes also improved or held steady. Also, even with the improvements, Black children born in 1992 still had poorer prospects of rising income than white children in virtually every county in America because initial Black-white disparities were so large.
For Whites born in 1992, starting average annual income at age 27, for those from low-income families, was $34,500, a drop of $2,000 compared to the income of a similar group born in 1978. In contrast, income for those from high-income families increased by $770 to $44,900. Also, the gap in average household incomes for white children raised in low- versus high-income families grew by 28%, from $10,383, for those born in 1978, to $13,202 for those born in 1992.
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