Black Americans still face steep hurdles to homeownership

Homeownership is out of reach for many Americans — especially for Black Americans.

In the country’s largest metropolitan areas, Black people own a disproportionately small share of homes relative to population size, according to a new report from LendingTree.

In 2022, Black people made up an average of 14.99% of the population across the 50 largest metropolitan areas of the U.S., but owned an average of 10.15% of owner-occupied homes in such places, the report found. Those figures are roughly flat from 2021.

“Relatively speaking, Black people don’t own that many homes,” said Jacob Channel, a senior economist at LendingTree who authored the study.

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In Memphis, Tennessee, Black people make up nearly half the population, the largest share among all metros in the study. But they only own about 36% of homes in the area, LendingTree found.

LendingTree analyzed the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey with one-year estimates. The study ranks the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas by the difference between the percentage of owner-occupied homes in a metro owned by those who identify as Black and the share of an area’s population that identifies as Black.

“The data indicates that Black folks are probably going to face disproportionately steep hurdles that stand in the way of them becoming homeowners,” said Channel.

One of the hurdles is the income disparity. The median income for Black U.S. households was $51,374, about $29,000 less than the $79,933 median income for white U.S. households, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data.

While 51% of Black U.S. households in 2022 made at least $50,000 a year, the shares dwindle as the salary…