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3 MIN READ - The Cautious Optimism Correspondent for Economic Affairs and Other Egghead Stuff is looking for evidence of American “white privilege,” but sifting through U.S. median household income by ethnic group he’s having a hard time finding any.
(The Correspondent has added some statistical commentary below this list)
U.S. median household income by ethnicity (2019):
1. Indian $126,705
2. Taiwanese $102,405
3. Australian $100,856
4. Filipino $100,273
5. South African $98,212
6. Basque $94,091
7. Indonesian $93,501
8. Latvian $89,697
9. Macedonian $87,803
10. Pakistani $87,509
11. Iranian $87,288
12. Lebanese $87,099
13. Austrian $86,499
14. Russian $85,989
15. Lithuanian $85,812
16. Chinese $85,424
17. Japanese $85,007
18. Turkish $83,375
19. Swiss $82,974
20. Slovene $82,728
21. Italian $82,106
22. Greek $82,036
23. Israeli $81,901
24. Romanian $81,878
25. Ukrainian $81,603
26. Serbian $81,452
27. Croatian $80,683
28. Bulgarian $80,626
29. Slovak $80,388
30. Swedish $80,228
31. Czech $80,142
32. Norwegian $79,783
33. Scottish $79,544
34. Polish $79,503
35. Danish $79,500
36. Portuguese $79,050
37. Belgian $78,355
38. English $78,078
39. Welsh $77,949
40. Hungarian $77,611
41. Finnish $77,356
42. Armenian $77,110
43. Korean $76,674
44. Canadian $76,665
45. Irish $76,036
46. French Canadian $75,949
47. Argentine $75,810
48. German $75,583
49. Chilean $74,585
50. Syrian $74,047
51. Hmong $73,373
52. Scotch-Irish $72,745
53. Vietnamese $72,161
54. Albanian $72,043
55. Scottish $72,038
56. Spanish $71,903
57. French $71,407
58. Dutch $70,872
59. Ghanaian $69,021
2019 overall median household income: $68,703
60. Cajun $68,383
61. Bangladeshi $67,944
62. Guyanese $67,772
63. Samoan $67,573
64. Egyptian $67,187
65. Palestinian $67,157
66. Ecuadorian $66,971
67. Colombian $66,875
68. Peruvian $66,845
69. Thai $66,763
70. Laotian $66,117
71. Polynesian $65,968
72. Nigerian $65,672
73. West Indian $65,258
74. Barbadian $64,588
75. Brazilian $63,982
76. Nepalese $63,619
77. Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac $63,301
78. Nicaraguan $63,073
79. Micronesian $62,659
80. Trinidadian and Tobagonian $62,120
81. Jamaican $62,044
82. Uruguayan $61,656
83. Jordanian $61,235
84. Salvadoran $58,898
85. American $57,761
86. Haitian $57,451
87. Pennsylvania Dutch $56,290
88. Cuban $56,005
89. Mexican $55,943
90. Cape Verdean $54,910
91. Venezuelan $54,496
92. Ethiopian $52,364
93. Puerto Rican $50,473
94. Moroccan $50,322
95. Guatemalan $49,584
96. Iraqi $49,315
97. Honduran $47,276
98. Dominican $47,170
99. Afghan $46,742
100. Burmese $45,903
101. Black $43,862
102. Somali $31,218
A few analytical notes:
1) The list contains several groups that could be considered “anglicized” such as English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, etc. Averaging all their incomes produces an estimated median household income of about $76,500, placing anglicized “whites” in 45th place, lower than dozens of non-western groups including Indians, Taiwanese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, Iranians, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, Turks, Israelis, Armenians, Koreans, and eastern Europeans such as Serbs, Croats, and Ukrainians (this is not a complete list).
2) One could argue “household” income is higher for Indians and other high-earning ethnic groups since their households tend to have more earners under the same roof, as opposed to single earner households. However, adjusting for household size can’t offset the vast income advantage Indians enjoy over, say, English-Americans at $126,705 vs $78,078 (+62.3%).
Census statistics reveal only a slight advantage for Indian households with 82% married vs 75% for white households, confirming that household size doesn’t come close to explaining the income advantage.
3) What does substantiate a distinct earning advantage is education. 74% of the Indian population in the U.S. has a bachelor’s or postgraduate degree. 55% of Chinese, 56% of Korean, 56% of Pakistani, 52% of Japanese, 50% of Filipinos, but only 29% of Vietnamese.
All Asians average 54% compared to 35% for whites, 21% for blacks, and 15% for Hispanics.
(sources below)
4) The median household income data was taken from calendar year 2019, by which point former President Donald Trump had nearly three years to implement his white supremacist economic policies, but they don't appear to have delivered much of that “white privilege.”
Evidently the earning power for many ethnic groups in the United States is far more resilient at overcoming “white privilege” than some in the media and progressive movement would like us to believe.
5) Some left-wing progressives complain about such income statistics, arguing they are misleading since immigrants from India, Taiwan, The Philippines, Indonesia, or Japan are already more educated or better off than their countrymen they left behind.
But even for those Indians, Taiwanese, and Filipinos who have recently come to the USA with education or better circumstances, wouldn’t the white-supremacist, racist United States discriminate against them and hold them down despite their excellent credentials and work ethic?
That’s the entire claim of “white privilege,” yet the gap between households of Indian ancestry and English ancestry is huge (+62.3%), placing median Indians in the top 21% for all of America—hardly the result one would expect of a blatantly racist society that elevates on-the-whole less educated whites above all nonwhite groups.
6) Finally, left-wing progressives complain that a median income of $126,705 isn't high enough to prove more educated Indian immigrants aren't being “held down” by white privilege and racism.
But they’ve never been able to objectively produce an income that would prove Indian households are no longer being oppressed. If Anglo-whites make $76,500, how much do ethnic households have to make before left progressives are satisfied? $150,000? Half a million dollars? A million?
They never provide a number. Only complaints.
Well the Economics Correspondent can provide a fairly close estimate. If we average the overall U.S. median household incomes for degreed households (bachelor's and higher = $108,646—2019) vs non degreed households (9th-12th grade, high school only, some college, associates degrees = $52,880—2019) and weigh them based on the percentages of Asian households that are degreed and not degreed, we can calculate the following adjusted household incomes for what more highly educated ethnic groups should make:
-Indian households should make $94,147. They really make $126,705.
-Chinese households should make $83,551. They really make $85,424.
-Japanese households should make $81,878. They really make $85,007.
-Filipino households should make $80,763. They really make $100,273.
-Vietnamese households (the Asian group with less college education than whites) should make $69,052. They really make $72,161.
-Pakistani households should make $84,108. They really make $87,509.
-The only laggard is Korean households. They should make $84,108. They really make "only" $76,654, still more than Anglicized whites.
Data sources:
Household income by ethnicity (2019):
Percent of households with bachelor’s degree or higher by ethnicity (2016, couldn’t find 2019 but suspect the percentages across all households haven't changed that much in three years):
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/raceindicators/indicator_rfa.asp
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/raceindicators/indicator_rfas.asp
Household income by education attainment (2019):
https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/tables/hinc-01/2020/hinc01_1.xlsx
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