What is wealth inequality and who does it affect?

Understanding wealth and how it affects the city of Atlanta is the first step to dismantling inequitable wealth gaps.

By Dominque Feloss, program associate

Wealth refers to the total assets a person or household owns, including property, investments, and savings. Wealth is accumulated in a number of ways and is frequently passed down from generation to generation.  Wealth serves as a financial cushion for difficult economic times and the lever for economic mobility – a way for families to invest in opportunities that will increase their incomes and wealth over time- homeownership, postsecondary education, entrepreneurship, retirement accounts, and more.

Wealth gaps refer to the disparate distribution of assets and resources, typically amongst marginalized people in a society. According to Prosperity Now, 30% of Black households in metro Atlanta have zero or negative net worth, compared to 10% of white households. Because wealth accumulation happens over generations, this is caused by historic systemic discrimination and barriers to wealth accumulation, as well as present-day income inequality.

Atlanta has the worse income equality in the nation, with the median household income for a white family at$83,722, compared to $28,105 for a Black family (Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative, About Racial Wealth Gap). Many families, primarily those who are in the lower 20^th percentile, have unfortunately had to deal with hardships, continuously searching for ways to make ends meet. Creating accessible resources through grassroots and smaller organizational funding, community outreach, and extensive research and data collection, are just some of the ways that local nonprofits and organizations can aid in efforts to reduce wealth inequality.

Decreasing wealth gaps can help us increase economic stability and mobility. Communities with less wealth also experience:

• Limited access to high-quality education and healthcare: Wealth disparities often result in dissimilar access to high-quality education and healthcare. This can have long-term consequences for marginalized communities.
• Unequal opportunities for economic mobility: Inequitable wealth limits access to job opportunities, entrepreneurship, and other avenues for economic mobility, perpetuating poverty and inequality.
• Inaccessibility to affordable housing: Access to affordable housing becomes next to impossible when marginalized families are facing complexities such as gentrification and displacement, as well as unacceptable living conditions in low-income housing.
• Political disenfranchisement: Wealth disparities can result in unequal political power and influence, making it difficult for some groups to have their voices heard in policy-making decisions.

By understanding the impact of wealth disparities and investing in efforts to change the hindering systems currently in place, we can work towards dismantling them and creating a more equitable and inclusive Atlanta.

Addressing wealth inequality requires systemic changes, which the Community Foundation aims to tackle by implementing programs and opportunities to reduce the wealth gap in Atlanta. Learn more about the Foundation’s Income and Wealth work here.

Image: How Atlanta Became The Capital Of Income Inequality. WABE, Stephanie Stokes, 2018