The median wealth of Black American families plunged 25% between 2022 and 2025, while White family wealth climbed 6%, widening an already stark racial wealth gap, according to a new Federal Reserve report.
Wealth for every other race and ethnicity increased over the same period of time.
Significance. The median net worth of Black American families fell 25% from $49,100 in 2022 to $36,800 in 2025, according to the new report with data from the most recent Survey of Consumer Finances. In 2025, the median net worth of Black households was $179,000 below the national median of $215,900.
Over the same period, the median net worth for White American families grew 6% from $311,900 to $332,100.
White families had nine times the wealth of Black families in 2025. This difference is the largest ratio recorded between the two races since 2016, according to the Federal Reserve.
Hispanic American families saw an 18% increase in their median household net worth. The median amount of wealth for Hispanic families in 2022 was $67,400, and grew to $79,600 in 2025.
Asian American families had the highest median net worth from 2022 to 2025, according to the Federal Reserve data. In 2022, the Federal Reserve found that Asian households had a median net worth of $586,600. The median net worth later increased to $677,600 in 2025 for Asian households.
The results did not reflect independent data on the wealth of Native American, Native Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian demographics.
The results found that the median net worth of families it classifies as “mixed race” and “other (non-Asian)” increased 42% from $68,800 in 2022 to $97,500 in 2025.
The Federal Reserve adjusted figures for inflation and compiled this data through surveys conducted every three years called the Survey of Consumer Finances.
Overlooked angle. Black Americans were already the group with the lowest median wealth in 2022 at $49,100. This is largely because Black Americans have long faced inequitable barriers to building wealth compared to Americans of other races and ethnicities.
Previous reporting from The Emancipator highlighted that owning property is a major builder of generational wealth, but historically many Black and Brown people 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 Brown people were limited to buying homes in often undesirable neighborhoods and conditions. The value of these homes was often significantly lower than the value of homes owned by White families.
Remnants of this systemic racism contribute to the racial wealth gap.
Power structure. An analysis by Dr. Algernon Austin, the Director for Race and Economic Justice at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, suggests that the decline in Black median net worth may be partly due to “declines in the value of Black homes, vehicles, and retirement accounts.”
“In the Survey of Consumer Finances, young people, people without a high school diploma, and Black people all had big declines in net worth,” said Austin in a statement to The Emancipator.
“Interestingly, in a different Federal Reserve Survey, these three groups also indicated declines in their finances. It could be that the groups with the weakest financial standing – young people, people without a high school diploma, and Black people – are the canaries in the coal mine for declining economic conditions.”
Austin went on to explain that the decline may be remnants of removing COVID-19 era policies.
“Also, a lot of COVID emergency relief policies led to big reductions in poverty and likely an increase in wealth. 2022 marks the high point in Black wealth in the [Survey for Consumer Finances],” he said. “Those policies are all expired now, I believe. So, Black people may be returning to their pre-COVID wealth situation,” Austin explained.
Austin also said he noticed declines in “housing wealth, retirement accounts, and vehicles” when looking at the newly released data from the Federal Reserve.
“My guess is that more people are putting off buying a new vehicle, so the value of their vehicles are depreciating. The value of Black retirement accounts could decline if people are withdrawing money from retirement accounts to pay bills,” Austin further explained.
“Black housing wealth could decline if people borrow money from the equity in their homes. If these items actually declined, these might be the reasons why.”
