Socioeconomic Differentials among White Ethnics in the American Community Survey, 2017-2021

We investigate socioeconomic variation among Whites in the United States. Using data from the American Community Survey, we explore educational attainment, wages, poverty, affluence, and household income by ancestry groups among non-Hispanic, single-race Whites. The results indicate that persons who identify as White report a wide variety of ethnic ancestries. Some ethnic groups have relatively high socioeconomic attainments while others have low outcomes, including a few ethnic groups with poverty and high-school dropout rates that are similar to Blacks. Some of the socioeconomic variation between White ethnic groups is explained by demographic control variables such as age, nativity, region, and disability, but notable socioeconomic differentials frequently persist. Indeed, some of the between-ethnic differentials are as large as the differentials between Whites overall and Blacks. A great deal of socioeconomic variation within specific ethnic groups is furthermore often evident. This substantial heterogeneity in socioeconomic characteristics is inconsistent with the critical demography paradigm which tends to portray Whites as a homogenous and uniformly advantaged group. Our findings suggest that the demographic heterogeneity of Whites—which includes substantial variation in both ethnic identity and socioeconomic characteristics—is a more realistic assessment in the contemporary era of rising class inequality.