Racial Gap

Black Law School Graduates of the Class of 2025 Reported the Lowest Rate of Employment

Among law school graduates of the Class of 2025, Black graduates were the least likely racial group to secure employment. They were also significantly less likely than their peers to secure a bar admission required/anticipated position.

Why Increasing Black Homeownership Is Not Enough to Improve the Racial Wealth Gap

A new report authored by Zawadi Rucks-Ahidiana of the University at Albany argues that historical financial disparities and systemic racism embedded within the housing market makes homeownership a risky investment for Black Americas.

Predominately Black Neighborhoods Are Disproportionately Impacted by Pharmacy Deserts

“When a pharmacy is absent in a neighborhood because it closed or was never there, this can create barriers for residents to not only obtain medications, but other essential health services, such as vaccines [and] testing and treatment for multiple diseases and conditions,” said Elaine Nsoesie, associate professor of global health at Boston University.

Racial Differences in How Long Students Take to Earn an Undergraduate Degree

Among Black students who earned an undergraduate award (bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, or certificates) in 2024–2025, those attending HBCUs completed their program faster than those attending other institutions.

Black Poverty Rate Declines, But Huge Racial Gap Remains

In 2025, more than 7.9 million African Americans were living with incomes below the official poverty rate. Nearly one quarter of all Black children live in poverty.

Justice Department Dismisses More Than 50 School Desegregation Cases Dating Back to the Jim Crow Era

More than 50 school desegregation cases filed in the 1960s and 1970s will be dismissed by the Justice Department. According to the department, these cases are “onerous and outdated consent decrees” that no longer require federal oversight.

Black Adults Face Significantly Higher Financial Burden From the Criminal Legal System

In 2024, Black adults were more likely than other adults to face any kind of fines or fees relating to the criminal legal system. Black adults were twice as likely to White adults to have been assessed court- or incarceration-related costs, which often carry larger financial burdens and severe consequences for nonpayment.

The Racial Income Gap Narrows But Remains Huge

The median income of Black households in the United States is only 62 percent of the median income of non-Hispanic White families. The racial gap in median income has remained virtually unchanged for more than a half-century.

Study Connects Psychosocial Stressors With Heart Failure Risk in Black Women

Black women who have experienced racial discrimination in employment, housing, and police interactions have a higher risk of heart failure. A similar risk was found among Black women who had experienced frequent abuse in childhood or adolescence.

Kennedy-King College Announces New Academic Partnership with the Black Midwifery Collective

Under the new partnership, Kennedy-King College in Chicago and the Black Midwifery Collective will launch a licensed certified professional midwifery program at the community college beginning in Spring 2027.

Counties That Historically Relied on Slave Labor Have Larger Present-Day Racial Mortality Gaps

Using census data from 1860 and mortality data from 2010–2020, scholars from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that U.S. counties with higher proportions of enslaved Black Americans in 1860 have higher contemporary Black mortality rates and lower contemporary White mortality rates.

Report Examines the Labor Market Disadvantages Facing Young Black Women

“Black women incur some of the highest student debt burdens while pursuing higher education, which, when combined with a lack of job opportunities, deepens existing economic inequities and exacerbates the racial wealth gap,” the report authors write.

Why New Savings Programs Will Not Close the Racial Retirement Gap

In a new article, Cantrell Dumas of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies argues that while new state and federal savings policies will likely increase Black retirement savings, the policies themselves are not enough to close the persistent Black-White retirement divide.

Black Communities May Face Higher Exposure to Extreme Heat Over the Next Century

A new multi-university study has projected some 66 percent of U.S. counties will be at-risk for extreme heat exposure by 2100, with older adults, Black people, and residents living in the Southeast facing the highest risk.

Black Students Earned Less than Five Percent of Physics Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded in 2024–2025

New data from the American Institute of Physics has revealed Black students represented about 4.7 percent of all recipients of physics bachelor's degrees awarded by U.S. institutions during the 2024–2025 academic year. Black students' representation among physics undergraduate degree recipients has gradually increased over the past two decades.

Rutgers Study Connects Gun Violence Exposure to Racial Health Disparities

The findings from a new study from scholars at Rutgers University suggests greater exposure to gun violence is a direct contributor to the persistent health disparities facing Black and Hispanic communities.

Research Finds Historical Racial Inequities in Federal Mortgage Lending

During the 1935 to 1947 period, foreign-born U.S. residents appeared to have benefited significantly more from these federal lending programs than native-born Black borrowers.

Research Documents the Significantly High Rate of Medical Debt Among Black Americans

Between 2016 and 2022, the share of Black borrowers with new medical debt collections declined from 15.6 percent to 11.2 percent. Despite this improvement, Black borrowers were still nearly twice as likely as Hispanic and White borrowers and more than nine times as likely as Asian and Pacific Islander borrowers to carry medical debt in 2022.

Joint Center Report Reveals Economic Inequalities Among Black Retirees

A new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies examines how Black-White financial disparities throughout the lifetime contribute to severe economic hardship among Black retirees, who are more than twice as likely as White retirees to live in poverty.

Better Access to Local Pharmacies Lowers Racial Disparities in Medication Use

A new study led by scholars at the University of Washington has found communities that have a larger share of residents living within 10 minutes of a pharmacy have lower racial disparities in medication use. This association was strongest among Black residents.
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