Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

To determine which states have the most racial equality in terms of employment and wealth, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across eight key metrics. The data compares the difference between white and black Americans in areas such as annual income, unemployment rate, and homeownership rate.

So, how did Tennessee come out? The Volunteer State ranked #19, the third highest among Southeastern states. Kentucky placed #9 followed by Florida at #11. Trailing the Volunteer State were Georgia (#23), North Carolina (#24), South Carolina (#26), Arkansas (#31), Alabama (#34), Mississippi (#45), and Louisiana (#46).

The top-ranked state was Alaska.

How did WalletHub calculate the rankings? It looked a eight metrics that it weighted to calculate each state’s total score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states. The criteria and the weighting are as follows:

• Median Annual Household Income: Double Weight (~21.05 points);
• Labor-Force Participation Rate: Full Weight (~10.53 points);
• Unemployment Rate: Double Weight (~21.05 points);
• Homeownership Rate: Full Weight (~10.53 points);
• Poverty Rate: Full Weight (~10.53 points);
• Homeless Rate: Full Weight (~10.53 points);
• Share of Unsheltered Homeless: Half Weight (~5.26 points); and
• Share of Executives: Full Weight (~10.53 points).

The rankings and more information can be found here.

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