It’s MLK Day, and a Financial Study Claims Texas is No. 1 in Racial Progress Over Time
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As many Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a holiday from work or school, the country continues to fight over Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and discriminatory practices.
Personal finance website WalletHub offered a glimmer of hope for Texans with a study released last week showing the Lone Star State has made the most racial progress over time, based on employment and wealth, education, social and civic engagement, and health.
“We evaluated those dimensions using 22 relevant metrics … Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of racial integration and progress,” according to the methodology section of the study.
“The state that has made the most racial progress over the past few decades is Texas, in large part because it has done a lot to close the gap in health outcomes between white and Black residents,” researchers with WalletHub wrote in their report. “The state has reduced the gap in health insurance coverage by 12.4 percentage points since 1995, the most of any state. In addition, Texas has done the most to decrease the share of Black residents suffering from poor health and diabetes. It’s made the second-most progress when it comes to obesity, too.”
Progress in the Business Sector
When it comes to real estate, we want to know how North Texas is doing in terms of racial equity.
CandysDirt.com took a look last year at the Fair Housing Act, progress made through environmental justice standards written into the FowardDallas 2.0 comprehensive land use plan, and the challenges persons of color face when purchasing a home.
WalletHub found that Texas has made “a lot of racial progress in the business sector.”
“For example, between 2002 and 2021, the gap in business ownership between white and Black residents decreased by 6.4 percentage points, the sixth-largest decrease in the nation,” according to the study. “The disparity in the share of business executives who are white vs. Black also decreased by close to 8 percentage points, the seventh-largest decrease.”
We’re No. 1
So Texas ranked No. 1 overall but where did it fall in each specific category?
The Lone Star State ranked sixth in change in bachelor’s degree attainment gap, 10th in change in median annual household income gap, 10th in change in high school graduation rate gap, 10th in change in voter-turnout gap, 11th in change in standardized test scores gap, and 12th in change in poverty rate gap.
Finally, Texas is the fourth-best state when it comes to making racial progress in the parole system, “which is important since Black people have faced a lot of discrimination in the criminal justice system throughout history,” the WalletHub report states.
Check out the full report here. And though it seems we may have a long way to go in terms of racial progress, on this MLK Day, we’re still going to dream.
