Black Family Wealth Falls 25% as Racial Gap Widens, Fed Finds

WASHINGTON — The median net worth of Black American families fell 25% between 2022 and 2025, reversing years of gains and widening the racial wealth gap, according to the Federal Reserve’s newly released Survey of Consumer Finances.

Inflation-adjusted median wealth for Black non-Hispanic families dropped from $49,100 to $36,800, the Federal Reserve report found. Over the same period, the median for White non-Hispanic families rose 6% to $332,100—nine times the Black median and the largest White-to-Black ratio recorded since 2016.

Other racial and ethnic groups gained ground. Median net worth rose 18% for Hispanic or Latino families to $79,600 and 16% for Asian families to $677,600. Across all families, median net worth increased just 2% to $215,900.

Net worth measures what a family owns—including homes, retirement accounts, businesses, savings and vehicles—minus what it owes. The median represents the family in the middle of the distribution and is less distorted by extremely wealthy households than an average.

The difference between the median and the average is especially important in the new data. Although the typical Black family lost wealth, average Black family net worth rose 5% to $242,400. That split indicates that gains among wealthier Black families did not reach the middle of the Black wealth distribution.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research, analyzing the Fed’s figures, said declines in the value of homes, vehicles and retirement accounts appear to have contributed to the drop. It also found that the share of Black households holding nonfinancial assets declined from 81% to 78.4%.

The broader survey showed that asset ownership increasingly separated families who gained from those who fell behind. Homeowners’ median net worth rose 6% to $458,900, while renters and other non-homeowners saw a 7% decline to $10,600. Families in the wealthiest 10% recorded a 19% increase in median net worth, while families in the bottom quarter experienced a 56% fall to $1,700.

Financial strain also became more common. The share of families reporting that they were behind on loan payments rose from about 12% to nearly 20%, according to the Fed. Use of buy-now-pay-later plans increased from 7% to 12%, and the typical debt payment consumed 15.4% of income, up two percentage points from 2022.

The findings follow a different pattern from the previous three-year survey period, when median Black wealth rose about 60% between 2019 and 2022. The Fed said the latest decline was the first for Black median net worth since the 2013 survey.

The Survey of Consumer Finances is conducted every three years and covers a representative sample of roughly 4,300 U.S. families. Because it is a cross-sectional survey, it compares representative groups at different points in time rather than tracking every same household from one survey to the next.

For Black communities, the report underscores how strongly homeownership, retirement savings and access to appreciating assets shape long-term financial security. It also shows that modest national wealth growth can conceal sharp losses for families already holding the smallest financial cushion.

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