Chicago typifies wealth inequity, with many households in northeast Cook County holding nearly $1 million dollars in wealth, while just a few miles away, a quarter of households have negative wealth of $1,500 or less. We estimate a typical household’s wealth in the richest area of Chicago and Cook County is 313 times higher than a typical household’s wealth in the poorest area.

Although this wealth inequity pattern in Chicago has been well documented, wealth information for each local region has not been made widely available. With new Urban research, we can provide more insights on how wealth differs across subregions in Chicago. In our future work, we will visualize local-level wealth differences within every US city and county.

In Chicago, as in many US metropolitan areas, limited opportunities and structural barriers disproportionally impede households of color from building wealth. Looking at the racial composition and wealth for different areas in Chicago and Cook County, areas with low wealth tend to have more households of color. Policies such as redlining systemically excluded Black Chicagoans from moving and investing in higher-opportunity neighborhoods, which, in turn, created wealth gaps that compounded over time and across generations.

Below, we display two wealth metrics—net worth and emergency savings—to show the extent of the wealth gap within Chicago and Cook County. Data on net worth, which is calculated as total assets minus total debt, can provide an overview of households’ economic well-being and their ability to pursue new opportunities, and emergency savings data can indicate households’ resilience and ability to bounce back from financial shocks.

By understanding these household wealth measures at the local level, policymakers can more clearly see residents’ financial health and learn where to target solutions.

Read the full article about economic opportunity in Chicago by Mingli Zhong and Aaron R. Williams at Urban Institute.