Wealth Gaps

We hear a lot of talk about the wealth and income gap(s) in the U.S., but these discussions often lack specifics. Fortunately, the U.S. Census Bureau bureau has put together some clear data on the subject.

The latest data is only from 2013, but it illustrates many of the points that economists make.

For instance, education really matters:

Households where with no high school diploma have a median net asset worth of just 5,038. This rises to $36,795 for high school graduate only households. Households where people have some college, but no degree have an average of $36,729.

However, things zoom up from there:

Households where someone has at least an Associate’s degree have a median worth of $66,943. Those with a Bachelor’s degree have $147,578. Finally, households where someone has a graduate or professional degree have a median worth of $325,400.

There are other divisions based on numbers of children, ethnicity and age. You can look through the various tables HERE.

Wealth gaps are real, and they are profound. Hopefully, these data points will put some “meat on the bones” of these discussions.