Median Wealth for Single Black Women: $5

This is jaw-dropping: The median wealth for single black women in the prime of their working years in this country is $5, according to data from the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances. The median wealth for single white women during the prime of their working years, meanwhile, is $42,600 (which is, in turn, only 61 percent of what single white men of that age have). Wealth was measured as the total of one’s assets minus debts. Black women were more likely than other women to have been caught up in subprime lending. A married or cohabiting black woman had a median net worth of $31,500.