Center for Household Financial Stability

The Center for Household Financial Stability was created in 2013 to research and strengthen the financial health of struggling families in the U.S. In 2021, staff from the Center were combined with staff from the community-based policy and analysis unit to form the Institute for Economic Equity.

The Center focused on what a family saves, owns and owes—also called a family’s wealth.

• This primer highlights the state of wealth inequality in the United States.
• The signature Demographics of Wealth series explored the unique roles that birth year, education, and race and ethnicity play in predicting a family’s wealth.

Calling Attention to an Underlying Economic Inequity

As COVID-19 negatively and disproportionately impacts the health and financial well-being of disadvantaged groups, notably black Americans, and in the midst of the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others, we write to call attention to an underlying economic inequity that may be contributing—at least in part—to the heightened racial tensions we’re all witnessing today.