For U.S. Census, Documenting Multiracial Heritage Is Harder Than It Sounds: Census data provide clearest picture of race in America—but even that is incomplete

By Jo Craven McGinty.

In yesterday's post, I looked at the Asian-White income gap. But it might not always be clear what numbers to look at because people can select more than one race on Census Bureau surveys. This article examined how people answer these questions.

Excerpts:

"since 2000, residents have been able to check off more than one race on the decennial census."

This can be confusing "Because people change their answers from one census to the next."

"Yet millions of people who identified as multiracial for the first time in 2000 reverted to a single race in 2010. At the same time, a nearly equal number switched from one race to more than one.

“At any one point in time, 2% to 3% of the U.S. reports as multiracial,”"

"6.1% of respondents, or 9.8 million out of about 162 million, changed their answers" from 2000 to 2010.

"In 2010-12 . . . More than 13 million people said they had ancestors of two different races, but only 7.9 million identified themselves as multiracial."

"With self-reporting, it’s possible that some people withhold information selectively. But it’s also possible that some are simply unaware of their heritage."

"Today, the survey includes five race categories: white; Black or African-American; American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; and, for everybody else, “some other race.”"

"the information has been used to monitor compliance with antidiscrimination laws, regulations and policies."

The growing Asian-White income gap

The graph below shows median household income for Asians and Whites each year from 1988-2018. It also shows the differential or gap. Asians have the highest median household income in the U.S. every year.

The gray line shows the gap which is now around $20,000 (in 2018, the last year we have data from the Census Bureau). Prior to 2005, the gap averaged about $11,000.

The table below has the numbers.

Year	WHITE ALONE	Asian	Diff
1988	58,900	66,034	7,134
1989	59,619	70,787	11,168
1990	58,359	71,848	13,489
1991	56,920	65,718	8,798
1992	56,665	66,502	9,837
1993	56,560	65,804	9,244
1994	57,198	68,047	10,849
1995	58,705	66,662	7,957
1996	59,413	69,189	9,776
1997	60,990	70,813	9,823
1998	63,170	72,010	8,840
1999	63,989	77,044	13,055
2000	64,216	81,530	17,314
2001	63,293	76,256	12,963
2002	63,107	73,660	10,553
2003	62,451	76,231	13,780
2004	62,177	76,631	14,454
2005	62,584	78,747	16,163
2006	63,264	80,200	16,936
2007	63,270	80,252	16,982
2008	61,160	76,739	15,579
2009	60,845	76,810	15,965
2010	59,682	74,167	14,485
2011	58,423	72,874	14,451
2012	58,846	75,205	16,359
2013	61,268	78,153	16,885
2014	60,376	78,883	18,507
2015	63,710	81,788	18,078
2016	64,729	85,210	20,481
2017	66,864	83,314	16,450
2018	66,943	87,194	20,251

The numbers are all in 2018 dollars. So they are adjusted for inflation.

The Census Bureau gives people the option of stating more than one race or ethnic group. Here were the categories they have with the a * in front of the ones I chose to make these calculations:

*WHITE ALONE, which began in 2002 and continued the series WHITE.

WHITE ALONE, NOT HISPANIC which began in 2002 and continued the series WHITE NOT HISPANIC

ASIAN ALONE OR IN COMBINATION which began in 2002

*ASIAN ALONE which began in 2002 and continued the series ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER.

For the data, go to Historical Income Tables: Households from the Census Bureau. Then look for "Table H-5. Race and Hispanic Origin of Householder -- Households by Median and Mean Income."

Click here if you want to go straight to the Excel file.

For a couple of years, two different income levels are given. I used my best judgement as to which to include and which to leave out. This link has explanatory footnotes.