Six Graphs On Race & Income That Will Change The Way You Look At The Bay

The Bay Area is already a majority people-of-color region, and communities of color will continue to drive growth and change into the foreseeable future. The region’s diversity is a tremendous economic asset – if people of color are fully included as workers, entrepreneurs, and innovators. But while the Bay Area economy is booming, rising inequality, stagnant wages, and persistent racial inequities place its long-term economic future at risk.

1. The Bay has become increasingly diverse, now leading the nation as the second most diverse metro region in the U.S.

PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity / Via nationalequityatlas.org

As the nation bolts toward having a people-of-color majority, the Bay Area region is already there. The region is the second most diverse among the largest 150 metros (after Vallejo), with a good mix of residents from every major racial/ethnic group. Communities of color – Latinos, Asians, African Americans, Native Americans, and people of mixed and other racial backgrounds – constituted the majority by 2000, and today represent 58 percent of residents. The region’s demographics have shifted rapidly: in 1980, 34 percent of the population was of color.

2. Over the last three decades, every county but Marin has become majority people of color.

PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity / Via nationalequityatlas.org

In 1980, the region did not have a single county that was majority people of color, and San Francisco County had the highest percentage people of color. Now, all counties except for Marin are majority people of color. By 2040, the percentage people of color is projected to decline in San Francisco while it continues to rise in Marin. In 2040, seven in every ten San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa county residents are expected to be people of color. You can include a link to the Atlas which gives the data for each county.

3. This rapid population growth has led to a large racial generation gap, with the majority of the elderly white, and the majority of youths of color.

PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity / Via nationalequityatlas.org

Another key demographic trend in the region relates to age: its youth population is much more diverse than the senior population. Seven in ten residents under age 18 (69 percent) are of color, compared with four in ten seniors over age 64 (42 percent). This 27 percentage-point racial generation gap is larger than the national average of 26 percent, and has steadily grown over the past several decades. This gap is an economic risk because regions with larger racial gaps between their young and old tend to make smaller investments in the educational systems that ensure youth can contribute to the region’s economic growth and vitality.

4. Though the population is increasingly people of color, these communities fare worse in the job market than their white peers.

PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity / Via nationalequityatlas.org

Across a host of indicators including employment, wages, poverty, working poverty, and access to jobs in “high-opportunity” occupations, people of color fare worse in the Bay Area labor market than their White counterparts. African American and Native American workers stand out for having particularly high rates of unemployment: they are about twice as likely to be unemployed as white workers.

5. People of color in the Bay are paid less than their white counterparts, even when controlling for educational attainment.

PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity / Via nationalequityatlas.org

Wage trends show racial gaps in income among those working in the Bay area, even when controlling for education: Whites earn $11/hour more on average compared with workers of color ($33 vs. $22). Even among college-educated workers, Blacks, Latinos, and people with mixed racial backgrounds in the Bay Area earn $7 to $11 less per hour than their White counterparts. The fact that racial economic gaps remain even after controlling for education reveals the persistence of racial barriers to economic opportunity – including overt discrimination as well as more subtle forms of exclusion that are embedded into institutions and systems.

6. Racial wage disparity is robbing the Bay’s economy of $117B each year.

PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity / Via nationalequityatlas.org

The Bay Area region’s rising inequality and its racial gaps in income, wages, education, and poverty are not only bad for communities of color, but they also hinder the whole region’s economic growth and prosperity. According to our analysis, all racial groups that currently earn less than whites had earned similar average incomes as their white counterpart (controlling for age), the region’s GDP would have been $117 billion higher in 2012. Unless racial gaps are closed, the costs of inequity will grow as the region continues to grow more diverse.

Explore more data visualizations for the SF Bay Area in our Equity Profile or check out data for the largest 150 metros and all states on the National Equity Atlas at www.nationalequityatlas.org.