About the project
Since 2015, Color of Wealth studies have examined and measured racial disparities in wealth and economic well-being in seven American cities: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Tulsa, and Washington DC. These studies have been used as a source of reliable estimates of wealth disparities by scholars, advocates, policymakers, members of national and state governments, journalists, philanthropy, and regional Federal Reserve banks to advance just policies.
Core methodology:
- The survey instrument was designed primarily to gather information about net worth, assets, and debts, at the household level. Net worth is estimated by subtracting debts from assets. Assets included financial assets (savings and checking accounts, money market funds, government bonds, stocks, retirement accounts, business equity, and life insurance) and tangible assets (houses, vehicles, and other real estate). Debts included credit card debt, student loans, installment loans, medical debt, mortgages, and vehicle debt.
- Various sampling techniques were used to locate and identify an ethnically plural sample consisting of specifically defined ethnic groups. The techniques included the following: web-based questionnaires, directory-listed landline samples targeted to census tracts where specific ethnic groups were known to reside; cell phone random digit dialing samples drawn from rate centers that covered the targeted ethnic group zip codes; samples drawn from targeted zip codes based on billing address; and the use of surname-based lists targeting specific national origin groups.
Credits & thanks
Baltimore
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation’s Building Economic Security Over a Lifetime (BESOL) initiative and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We would like to thank the Samuel Dubois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University. RTI International led the survey data collection. Graphicacy worked with the Institute team to visualize the data from the Color of Wealth in Baltimore study.
Boston
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation’s Building Economic Security Over a Lifetime (BESOL) initiative and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Additionally, we would like to thank the Research Network on Racial and Ethnic Inequality at the Duke Consortium on Social Equity at Duke University. Tom M. Guterbock at the University of Virginia directed the survey collection. Graphicacy worked with the Institute team to visualize the data from the Color of Wealth Boston study.
Chicago
We are grateful to The Chicago Community Trust for generously providing financial support to The Color of Wealth Chicago project and study and to the Institute. We would additionally like to thank The Kresge Foundation, the Polk Brothers Foundation and JPMorgan Chase for their support for this project. We would like to thank our survey firm, The RAND Corporation and Graphicacy who worked with the Institute team to visualize the data from the Color of Wealth Chicago study.
Los Angeles
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation’s Building Economic Security Over a Lifetime (BESOL) initiative. We would like to thank the Samuel Dubois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, UCLA’s Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, the Insight Center for Community and Economic Development, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The University of Virginia’s Center for Survey Research led the survey data collection. Graphicacy worked with the Institute team to visualize the data from the Color of Wealth Los Angeles study.
Miami
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation’s Building Economic Security Over a Lifetime (BESOL) initiative. We would like to thank the Samuel Dubois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, Glenn College of Public Affairs, Department of Economics and Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Florida International University. Graphicacy worked with the Institute team to visualize the data from the Color of Wealth Miami study.
Tulsa
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation’s Building Economic Security Over a Lifetime (BESOL) initiative. We are grateful to the team at the Justice for Greenwood Foundation and Christy Finsel (Osage) at the Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition, Inc. Graphicacy worked with the Institute team to visualize the data from the Color of Wealth Tulsa study.
Washington D.C.
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation’s Building Economic Security Over a Lifetime (BESOL) initiative and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We would like to thank the Samuel Dubois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University and the Insight Center for Community and Economic Development.The University of Virginia Center for Survey Research led the survey data collection. Graphicacy worked with the Institute team to visualize the data from the Color of Wealth in the Nation’s Capital study.