Income, Wealth & Poverty

Due mainly to a slump in the construction industry, the unemployment rate for Hispanics in the U.S. rose to 6.5% in the first quarter of 2008, well above the 4.7% rate for all non-Hispanics.

When it comes to anxiety about family finances, an old truism applies: Where you stand depends on where you sit. Or, more precisely, on where your house or apartment sits.

That's the proportion of African Americans who say that the income gap between whites and blacks has widened over the last decade.

There are 30.1 million Hispanic adults in the United States and 14.4 million of them--or 48%--are women, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Only 13% of adults say it's "very important" for them to be wealthy, ranking this personal priority far behind six others measured in a new survey .

Americans feel stuck in their tracks. A majority of survey respondents say that in the past five years, they either haven't moved forward in life or have fallen backward.

The gap between the wealthiest and poorest people in affording basic items is much wider now than it was during the 1992 economic downturn; more than six-in-ten (62%) self-described “working class” people now say their incomes are falling behind the cost of living

Summary of Findings Public views of the U.S. economy, already quite negative, have plummeted since January. Just 17% currently rate the nation’s economy as excellent or good, down from 26% last month. The percentage of Americans rating the economy as “poor” has increased even more dramatically, from 28% to 45% in one month. Moreover, there […]

This statistical profile of the Latino population is based on Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the Census Bureau's 2006 American Community Survey.

This statistical profile of the foreign-born population is based on Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the Census Bureau's 2006 American Community Survey.