Blacks’ income gap among lowest in U.S.

The gap between rich and poor blacks is smaller in Maryland than in almost any other state, according to the 2000 census.

The numbers reflect a relatively large black middle class, supported by good-paying, stable jobs in government, biotechnology and related industries, social scientists say. Their paychecks pave the way to more investment, more buying power and a better quality of life.

“The better off economically people are, the more stable their communities tend to be, so it tends to reduce all kinds of social problems if there’s a large middle class of whatever color,” said Patrick Feeney, a professor of sociology at Montgomery College in Rockville.

The method the Census Bureau and most economists use to calculate income disparity in a population is the “Gini coefficient,” developed in the early 20th century by Italian demographer Corrado Gini. It gives a number between 0 and 1.

A Gini of 0 for Maryland would mean that all households in the state had the same income; a Gini of 1 would represent the greatest income disparity, with all income concentrated in a single household.

Black households in Maryland scored a Gini of .428, the lowest of any state with a black population of at least 3 percent, except Alaska. The Maryland Gini score for all households was .430, while the national Gini score was .462.

Alaska squeaked into the rankings with a black population of 3.4 percent. Maryland’s population is 28 percent black, concentrated mainly in the Washington-Baltimore area.

Prince George’s County is among the wealthiest majority-black counties in the country, with an estimated average median household income of $54,176 in 2000, compared with $41,990 for all households nationally and $52,740 in Maryland.

The black middle class in Prince George’s is well established and flexing its economic muscle. The grand opening earlier this month of a new shopping center in Landover, the Boulevard at the Capital Centre, with a Borders bookstore and a Starbucks cafe, answered the demand for more upscale retailing in Prince George’s.

“I think it says that the business community has confidence in us,” County Executive Jack B. Johnson said.

Other Census figures suggest middle-class blacks also have confidence in themselves and their future earning power. Thousands of black families moved to the Baltimore and Washington suburbs between 1990 to 2000, helping to boost the populations of Prince George’s, Howard, Montgomery and Baltimore counties, as well as those farther out.

The only place in Maryland that lost blacks in significant numbers was Baltimore, which registered a net loss of 17,000, according to the Census.

“I think one can assume that Maryland’s racial barriers are, in fact, eroding,” said Charles Christian, an urban social geographer at the University of Maryland at College Park.

He said blacks are buying more single-family homes in new suburban developments and in newly integrated communities, and purchasing more of the durable goods — such as cars — that characterize the suburban lifestyle.

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