The Median Net Worth of Black Bostonians Is Lower Than the Cost of Lunch
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
December 12, 2017 -
There isn’t a whole lot you can get in a major East Coast city for $8. Meals at most lunch spots, once you include tax, will run higher than that (a Shake Shack double costs $8.09, for example). But that amount—a measly $8—is making the rounds thanks to a Boston Globe spotlight investigation that delves into the city’s history of racism.
Citing a study from 2015, “The Color of Wealth,” the Boston Globe listed a series of median wealth for Bostonians based on their racial and ethnic backgrounds. The median net worth for white households in Boston, for example, was $247,500. For Caribbean-born black people, it was $12,000. But for blacks native to the U.S., the median net worth of an entire household was just $8. Some readers thought it was a typo, prompting the Globe to publish another article explaining that it wasn’t. Put another way, that means the median white household in Boston is worth nearly 31,000 times more than a black American household. Visit www.theeroot.com for full article.
Categories: Media