Home ownership in Spokane County has followed a consistantly disturbing pattern for the last fifty years. While two-thirds of White families are able to own homes, most Black and Latino families do not. In the most recent census reports, 67% of White families are homeowners compared to only 44% of Black families. This disparity has been true through every decade since 1970. The charts below tell the story
The disadvantage that Black families face in Spokane County is made clearer when we consider income. At every income level, White families are more likely to own homes than Black families. The chart below shows ownership rates in 2018 census counts. The gap grew starkest at modest family income levels. For those earning between $50,000 and $75,000 in 2018, 71% of Whites were owners compared with only 31% of Blacks. And look at the difference among those earning less than $50,000. White families were three times more likely to be homeowners than Black families. Remarkably, 46% of White families at this modest income level were able to own homes. Here we see the effects of multigeneration wealth building. At current prices new buyers with modest incomes are shut out of homeownership unless they are converting homes long held in the family or other sources of wealth.
* - The most recent years shown here is an average of 2021 and 2022 from annual American Community Surveys (ACS). The 2-year average improves the reliability of these calculations, all of which are based on samples of the full population (2% for 2021-22 and 1970; 5% in other years). Because these are samples, it is unwise to report very small populations. For that reason the Latino category is not reported until 1980 and the category "Other race" is not shown here.
** - 2021 valuations are from UW Center for Real Estate Research . The 2018 and other valuations are from Census data and these estimates are not the same as assessed or market values. The Census Bureau asks about home values and families answer this question with little guidance.
Homes in these calculations include condos as well as houses and ownership can mean buying with a mortgage or owning outright (which is most likely for White homeowners).
Households as defined by the Census Bureau can include single individuals or a group of roommates as well as actual families. The race of the household follows the self-identified race of the person designate "head of household."
Race categories in these calculations treat Latino as an exclusive category. Thus the labels Black, White, Indigenous, and Asian do not include anyone who indicated Hispanic/Latino heritage. The category Asian, always complicated, includes Pacific Islanders, South Asians, and East Asians. These charts do not include persons who answered with two or more race categories. Only in recent census surveys was this an option and in this six decade report and charts, we were not able to include them.
Sources: These statistics are calculated from weighted samples of U.S. Census data produced by the Minnesota Population Center's IPUMS USA: Steven Ruggles, Sarah Flood, Ronald Goeken, Megan Schouweiler and Matthew Sobek. IPUMS USA: Version 12.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2022. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V12.0. The following samples: 1960 5%, 1970 1% Metro FM1 and F2, 1980 5% State, 1990 5% State, 2000 5%, 2010 10%, 2021-2022 ACS 2yr.