Predjudice, Privilege and Poverty

Your Local Factfinder

Today subtle effects of discrimination persist. The average hourly wage of African Americans is noticeably lower then that of Caucasians, $13.47 compared to $18.75.

You can use the chart below to compare national and state statistics on the relationship between race and income. Instructions follow the chart.

Prejudice, Privilege, and Poverty	National	State
Unemployment rate for whites	6.4%
Unemployment rate for African Americans	11.7%
Unemployment rate for Hispanics	7.5%
Percentage of non-Hispanic whites who own their own homes (2008)	71.7%
Percentage of African Americans who own their own homes (2008)	47.4%
Percentage of Hispanics who own their own homes (2008)	49.1%
Median hourly wage for white men (2007)	$18.75
Median hourly wage for African American men (2007)	$13.47
Median hourly wage for Hispanic men (2007)	$12.20
Percentage increase in the median hourly wage for white men, 2000-2007	2.2%
Percentage increase in the median hourly wage for African American men, 2000-2007	0.4%
Percentage increase in the median hourly wage for Hispanic men, 2000-2007	3.6%

We have filled in the national statistics.

Unemployment

To find your state unemployment information at the U. S. Census Bureau website, click here.

On the web page of national statistics that appears, click "Change...
geography (state, county. place...) in the column at the left-hand side of the page.
On the next web page that appears, choose "State" from the pull-down menu.
Choose your state from the list that appears below the pull-down menu.
Click "Show Result."
Find the data and copy it into the chart.

Home Ownership

To find data on the variance of home ownership at the U. S. Census Bureau website, click here. You will download a MicroSoft Excel spreadsheet.

Median Hourly Wage

To find hourly wage information from the Economic Policy Institute's report The State of Working America 2008/2009, click here.