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1. 8/2/19, 4)29 PMLatino Heritage Month: Economic Inequality and Latinos | Prosperity Now
Page 1 of 6https://prosperitynow.org/blog/latino-heritage-month-economic-inequality-and-latinos
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Latino Heritage
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2. 8/2/19, 4)29 PMLatino Heritage Month: Economic Inequality and Latinos | Prosperity Now
Page 2 of 6https://prosperitynow.org/blog/latino-heritage-month-economic-inequality-and-latinos
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Jobs & Income, Racial Wealth Equity, Education,
Financial Inclusion, Racial Wealth Equity Network, Data
& Research
In the United States, race has been used by dominant
powers in society to advance and re-enforce socio-
economic status. People of di!erent religions,
languages, countries and ethnicities have historically
been categorized into groups that reflected an ever-
evolving White supremacist order. This was true for the
diverse African people who were enslaved and brought
to the United States, for the di!erent Indigenous
peoples who lived throughout the Americas before
Europeans arrived, and for Latinos, an ethnicity that
emerged from European conquest.
Latinos are people of varying nationalities, races and
even traditional languages that are from the Americas,
where Latin-based languages Portuguese and Spanish
are dominant. The “Anglo” form of White supremacy
di!ered from much of Latin America’s White
supremacy. In Latin America, there was more inter-
marriage between the “races” and there wasn’t the
AUTHORS
Jose Macias,
Former Intern,
Racial Wealth
Divide Initiative

3. 8/2/19, 4)29 PMLatino Heritage Month: Economic Inequality and Latinos | Prosperity Now
Page 3 of 6https://prosperitynow.org/blog/latino-heritage-month-economic-inequality-and-latinos
marriage between the “races” and there wasn’t the
same type of absolute racial polarization. Anglos would
demark individuals as either White, Black or Indian
(indigenous). In Latin America, there was a blurring of
racial lines that maintained White socio-economic
supremacy.
The blurred lines in Latin America were so o!ensive to
Anglo White supremacist norms that a racial category
of Latino or Hispanic was created to distinguish
between the recognized mixed-race heritage of Latin
Americans and the supposed “purer” bloodlines of
Whites in the United States and Canada. The
designation of Latinos being other than White made
Latinos targets of racially discriminatory and
segregationist policies in the 19 and 20 centuries in
the United States. Examples include loss of land from
The Reclamation Act, systemic deportation and
di"culty claiming veteran benefits.
Despite the current prohibition of policies that outright
discriminate by race, racial economic inequality
continues to have a significant impact upon Latinos in
the United States.
As of 2015, the United States’ Latino population is
55,678,000. Of this total 64.2 percent are of Mexican
heritage, 16.8 percent are Caribbean, 8.7 percent are
Central Americans and 5.3 percent are South
th th

4. 8/2/19, 4)29 PMLatino Heritage Month: Economic Inequality and Latinos | Prosperity Now
Page 4 of 6https://prosperitynow.org/blog/latino-heritage-month-economic-inequality-and-latinos
Central Americans and 5.3 percent are South
American. 65.6 percent of Latinos are native-born and,
only 20 percent of Latinos in the United States are
undocumented. Latinos do have some of the lowest
educational attainment stemming from much of Latino
immigrants coming to the US for work that does not
require high educational attainment.
For Latinos, dreaming of earning a college degree
means making a higher income. Currently, the
percentage of Latinos with a Bachelor degree or higher
is 15.3 percent, which is drastically less than Whites
who have more than double the rate at 35.7 percent.
While Latino graduates do earn more than Latinos with
no college degree, what is overlooked is the income
inequality between Latino college graduates and White
college graduates. Latinos with a bachelor’s degree or
higher earn on average about 80 cents on every dollar
than Whites with a bachelor’s degree.
Regarding wealth, the disparity is much worse. In 2016,
Latinos had a median wealth of $6,400 compared to
White median wealth of $140,500. Again, we see that
higher education does not bridge racial economic
inequality. Latinos with a college degree have a median
wealth of about $33,000 which is not even 20 cents on
the dollar in wealth compared to Whites with a college
degree. Whites with a High School Diploma or GED

5. 8/2/19, 4)29 PMLatino Heritage Month: Economic Inequality and Latinos | Prosperity Now
Page 5 of 6https://prosperitynow.org/blog/latino-heritage-month-economic-inequality-and-latinos
have a median wealth of about $61,000. This is almost
twice the wealth of Latinos with a four-year degree.
Latinos are second to Whites in population numbers
and will continue to grow, by some projections,
becoming 24 percent of the U.S total population by
2065. With this growth comes more influence on
policies by the Latino electorate, which is projected to
double by 2030. This growth of the Latino population,
which has many similar socio-economic
characteristics to African Americans, means that racial
economic inequality is having a significant e!ect on a
growing share of the population.
Over the last couple of years, the country has seen
more outright racist rhetoric against the nation’s
largest ethnic minority. For the country to move away
from its racist past and current reality of deep racial
economic inequality, the nation will have to make a
sharp shift to embrace policies and practices that
bridge the racial wealth divide particularly as it e!ects
Latinos and African Americans. As the Latino
population continues to grow it becomes a greater
truth that an economically insecure Latino community
means an economically insecure United States.

6. 8/2/19, 4)29 PMLatino Heritage Month: Economic Inequality and Latinos | Prosperity Now
Page 6 of 6https://prosperitynow.org/blog/latino-heritage-month-economic-inequality-and-latinos
17:
ow-
eurs
,
Black and Latino
Households Are on a Path
to Owning Zero Wealth
According to our new report released
today, The Road to Zero Wealth,
families of color are on track to see
their median wealth hit zero within
our lifetime, making the prospects of
transferring wealth to the next
generation di"cult or impossible.
SEP 2017
Racial Wealth Equity, Financial
Capability, Savings, Jobs & Income
Racial Wealth Divide
Snapshot: Women and the
Racial Wealth Divide
As Women’s History Month comes to
an end, we at the Racial Wealth
Divide Initiative think it is important
to...
MAR 2018
Racial Wealth Equity, Jobs & Income,
Savings, Racial Wealth Equity
Network, Education, Wages &
Benefits, Data & Research
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