The Wealth Gap: Never-Married Black Women Have 8 Cents For Every $1 White Men Have

Recent findings from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis have highlighted a wealth gap in the tech industry, particularly impacting never-married Black and Hispanic women. 

The research focused on the 23% of adults who have never been married, stripping away any outside sources of wealth that could come from being divorced or widowed.

Never-Married Black And Hispanic Women Are Worse Off

In that group, alarmingly, never-married Black women have just 8 cents for every dollar that white men have, amounting to a median wealth of only $3,300 as of 2022. 

Never-married Hispanic women had a median wealth of $5,600, and never-married white women had a drastically higher amount of $31,000.

Never-married white men, however, had the highest median wealth, at $40,000.

Every dollar of median wealth held by never-married white men, never-married Black women, and never-married Hispanic women had 8 cents and 14 cents.

Never-Married Mothers Are Financially Vulnerable

The issue isn’t confined to race; it also affects never-married mothers of all backgrounds, who face a median wealth of just $3,900.

Women generally experience a disparity, holding 68 cents for each dollar men own despite earning 90 cents for each dollar in wages. 

“It’s hard to answer the gender wealth gap question with just one statistic,” said Ana Hernandez Kent, senior researcher with the Institute for Economic Equity at the St. Louis Fed, according to Bloomberg.

“But, never-married Black women, never-married Hispanic women, and never-married mothers of any race or ethnicity were the most financially vulnerable.”

Housing market improvements have slightly boosted women’s wealth, but the benefits are largely confined to property owners. 

On the other hand, never-married men have seen wealth increases mainly through reduced debt.