Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Salt Lake City have the lowest Black homeownership rates of any major metropolitan areas in the United States, according to an analysis released Monday by Redin.
Overall, 44 percent of Black families owned the home they live in at the end of the first quarter – up from 41.1 percent a year earlier. By contract, the national homeownership rate for white families is 73.7 percent.
That gap is even more pronounced in Minneapolis, where 25 percent of Black families own their own – compared to 76 percent of white families. Grand Rapids, Michigan, has the second biggest gap (78 percent to 33 percent), followed by Salt Lake City (72 percent to 28 percent) and Milwaukee (70 percent to 27 percent).
“The homeownership gap between Black and white families is a problem that extends far beyond the realm of housing,” Redfin economist Taylor Marr said. “The value many Black families have missed out on because they were impacted by systemic racism in housing would have been passed down to children and grandchildren, paying for things like higher education, childcare, starting a business and down payments on their own home. Instead, younger generations in the Black community are at an unfair financial and social disadvantage.”
Washington, D.C., has highest Black homeownership rate at 51 percent and the smallest gap (21 percent). Austin, Texas has the next smallest gap (43 percent to 65 percent), followed by Los Angeles (33 percent to 58 percent)
Birmingham, Alabama, has the second highest homeownership rate at 50 percent, followed by Richmond, Virginia, at 49 percent.
“There are a lot of federal employment opportunities for Black individuals in DC, and those jobs provide good salaries that drive homeownership,” local Redfin agent Thomas Mathis said. “I also see a lot of parents passing homes on to their children. DC was predominantly Black at one time and a lot of those families have stayed in the area, which means their homes are still in the family.”