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Black D.C. Households Saw A Significant Drop In Median Income Last Year
Black D.C. Households Saw A Significant Drop In Median Income Last Year
BY RACHEL SADON IN NEWS ON SEP 19, 2017 10:45 AM
How median income changed from 2015 to 2016, when broken down by race. (Courtesy of DCFPI)
Some hay has been made about a slight dip in D.C.'s median income from 2015 to 2016—falling from $76,233 to $75,506—while most urban areas saw increases in the annual American Community Survey.
But that 1.5 percent decline obscures much bigger, and growing, racial inequities: the median income of white families in the District actually grew last year. The decrease comes from Latino and black households, particularly the latter.
African American households saw their median income drop from $42,000 to $38,000 from 2015 to 2016. As the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute notes, black households now make a third of what white families do (which currently stands around $127,000).
You can see the figures from last year in the chart above. It isn't a one-year anomaly: white D.C. residents have seen their income grow significantly since 2010, whereas it has been practically flat for African Americans. This graph shows it clearly (note the different scale on each side of the y-axis):
{snip}
BY RACHEL SADON IN NEWS ON SEP 19, 2017 10:45 AM
How median income changed from 2015 to 2016, when broken down by race. (Courtesy of DCFPI)
Some hay has been made about a slight dip in D.C.'s median income from 2015 to 2016—falling from $76,233 to $75,506—while most urban areas saw increases in the annual American Community Survey.
But that 1.5 percent decline obscures much bigger, and growing, racial inequities: the median income of white families in the District actually grew last year. The decrease comes from Latino and black households, particularly the latter.
African American households saw their median income drop from $42,000 to $38,000 from 2015 to 2016. As the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute notes, black households now make a third of what white families do (which currently stands around $127,000).
You can see the figures from last year in the chart above. It isn't a one-year anomaly: white D.C. residents have seen their income grow significantly since 2010, whereas it has been practically flat for African Americans. This graph shows it clearly (note the different scale on each side of the y-axis):
{snip}