A new report shows that in Massachusetts, a state with one of the nation’s highest median wealth, White households are far and away outpacing Latino and Black households in median net wealth.
The results from the report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston highlighted how remnants of racist practices, such as redlining and restrictive covenants, continue to make it challenging for Black and Latino people to build and obtain wealth in states like Massachusetts. Overall, the state ranks at or near the top of numerous measures of high median income.
Significance. The study, “Family Wealth in Massachusetts,” found that Latino families had the lowest median net wealth ($1,200), and Black families had the second-lowest median net wealth ($7,800) in the state. Researchers found that White households in Massachusetts had a median net wealth of $549,200.
Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiians were surveyed together as a group, and researchers found they had a median net wealth of $305,000.
That means that in Massachusetts, White median wealth is 458 times that of Latinos and 70 times that of Black people.
The research and results from this study were based on the Massachusetts Economic Conditions and Household Opportunity Survey, conducted between March and December 2025. There were 5,018 respondents whose household income, education, and homeownership data were examined.
Overlooked angle. This report is an update from a previous study done in 2015 by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston called “The Color of Wealth.” The previous study sparked debate for its methodology due to its small and “nuanced” sample size, among other factors, which critics said skewed the findings and rendered it incomplete. This report also focused on racial wealth gaps. It found the median net worth of U.S.-born Black families at the time was $8, compared to $247,500 for White families.
Experts highlight that the new research entitled “Family Wealth in Massachusetts” used a different methodology from the initial study done in 2015. The authors recommend not directly comparing the two studies for this reason.
The power structure. Wealth is generally defined by a mix of financial and physical assets, including homes and financial investments, which have historically been more difficult for Black and Latino Americans to amass, minus what is owed on such items as credit cards, student loans, and other debts. Historically, Black and Latino Americans also faced higher mortgage denial rates, which continued to limit their ability to build wealth.
Owning property is a major builder of generational wealth, but historically many Black and Latino Americans were barred from buying and owning property. While legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was supposed to guarantee the right to buy and own property, other racist laws continued to limit this right.
Through redlining and restrictive covenants, many Black and Latino Americans were limited to buying homes in often predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. The value of these homes was significantly lower than the value of homes owned by White families.
In addition, a new study from researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, New York University, and the University of Virginia found that post-World War II, the Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration approved fewer home loans for Black soldiers compared to other soldiers. This prevented Black families from owning property and building wealth.
“For the majority of American families, homeownership has been the primary engine for building wealth, and these federal programs set millions of families on that path,” Katherine Thomas, a NYU doctoral student and primary author of “New Deal Mortgage Programmes Benefited White Borrowers Disproportionately,” wrote in a press release. “Our data show just how few Black households had access to the same opportunity to start building intergenerational wealth.”
Remnants of this systemic racism contribute to the racial wealth gap.
Experts say. “A study like this reveals a lot,” Marybeth Mattingly, the assistant vice president at the Boston Fed who led the survey that was used in the study, said in a statement. “It’s something we think can be a resource to everyone that wants to understand economic conditions, including the challenges and opportunities. Beyond the Federal Reserve, we think the survey results can be helpful to the private sector, elected officials, and nonprofit or philanthropic groups working to increase family economic opportunity.”
