A new report shows that while Black women have made significant gains in education and maintain a high level of labor force participation, significant disparities exist in income, wealth, and their retirement security.
The findings in the “Economic State of Black Women in the United States” report reveal that while educational attainment and labor force participation are important, they have not been sufficient to close longstanding gaps in economic security.
Black Women and Education
According to the research from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, women across the board complete college at higher rates than men across every major racial and ethnic group in the United States. However, the gap is especially wide among Black adults.
Approximately 65% of Black women who are 25 and older have attended college, including those who started but did not
earn a degree. Black women outpace Black men in bachelor’s degree attainment. Among adults ages 25 to 34, about 38% of Black women hold a bachelor’s degree compared with roughly 26% of Black men, a gap of approximately 12 percentage points.Still, Black women’s college attainment falls short compared to other women’s groups. In the same age group, about 77% of Asian women and 52% of white women hold a bachelor’s degree.
“These comparisons show that Black women’s educational position is shaped both by a pronounced gender divide within the Black population and by persistent racial disparities across women,” researchers said.
Labor Participation Among Black Women
When it comes to the U.S. workforce,
Black women are among the most active participants. According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 63% of Black women are in the labor force, meaning they are either working or actively looking for work. This rate is higher than that of Hispanic women (61%), Asian women (60%), and white women (58%).Yet, despite their gains in education and high levels of workforce participation, Black women continue to face persistent disparities in income and wealth compared to white and Asian women.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median weekly earnings of Black women working full-time in 2025 were about $942, compared with $1,108 for white women, $889 for Hispanic women, and $1,395 for Asian women. When compared with white and Asian men, the gaps are even more pronounced, according to the report.
White men earned a median of about $1,231 per week, and Asian men earned about $1,780 per week. Black men and women had the greatest gender income equality among the major racial and ethnic groups. Black men earn only $54 more in weekly earnings at $986 than Black women.
Why It Matters
The earning differences highlighted in the report paint a picture of broader disparities in annual household income. The median income for Black households in 2024 was about $56,000, compared with about $88,000 for white households and about $120,000 for Asian households.
While median household income increased for most racial and ethnic groups between 2023 and 2024, Black households experienced a
decline of about 3.3% from $58,340 in 2023 to $56,290 in 2024. This translates into another significant disparity: retirement savings.
Only 49% of Black women report having retirement savings, compared with about 61% of U.S. adults overall. Black women ages 55 to 59 hold an average retirement balance of about $129,933, compared with about $328,217 for white women in the same age group. As researchers noted, these disparities reflect broader patterns in retirement wealth.
On average, white households hold more than twice the retirement savings of Black households. These disparities contribute to greater economic insecurity later in life. Older Black women are significantly more likely to experience poverty in retirement than women in other racial groups.
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