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Report to Senate: California Latino households hold about 11% of wealth of white households, group warns
Summary
Latino Prosperity told a state Senate select committee that Latino households in California hold roughly 11% of the wealth of white households and proposed policies to expand homeownership, financial inclusion and capital to Latino‑owned firms.
Orson Aguilar, president and CEO of Latino Prosperity, told the Senate Select Committee on Minority Economic Development that a forthcoming state report, Building Prosperity: A Blueprint to Close California's Latino Wealth Gap, finds Latino households in California hold roughly 11% of the wealth of white households.
“The scale of California's Latino wealth gap is unprecedented,” Aguilar said. “Latino households hold just 11% of the wealth of white households.” He said that Latino household median income is about $99,000 versus $136,000 for white households, and that the principal gap is net worth rather than wages.
Aguilar outlined several drivers of the disparity. He told the committee that Latino homeownership stands at approximately 46% compared with about 66% for white households and that when Latinos buy homes they often face “triple jeopardy” — buying at peak prices, limited down payments and slower equity growth. He warned that many Latino homeowners are concentrated in wildfire‑ or flood‑prone regions, increasing exposure to insurance and energy cost shocks.
On small business, Aguilar said Latino‑owned firms in California grew by 38% in five years but remain undercapitalized and underbanked. He said, “If Latino owned businesses generated the same average revenue as white owned businesses, it would inject an additional $268,000,000,000 into California's economy.” Aguilar also said only 38% of Latino households have retirement savings accounts compared with roughly 60% of white households, and he described a wide internal variance across Latinos — for example, earnings gaps affecting Latinas and financial exclusion for undocumented families.
Aguilar listed policy areas his organization will recommend: expanding access to homeownership, strengthening banking access and digital financial services, increasing targeted lending to Latina‑owned businesses, expanding retirement coverage and workforce mobility and addressing climate‑related concentration of Latino homeowners.
He said Latino Prosperity will release additional reports on fintech, home lending trends and a national report on Latina wealth, and invited the committee to engage on policy implementation. Committee members asked for more granular mortgage data and outreach metrics for state home‑buyer programs; members also raised concerns about fear among immigrant communities that can reduce banking participation and business formalization.
No formal committee actions were taken; members scheduled additional hearings on access to capital later in the committee’s calendar.
