JSIT19-04: Financial Security and Immigrants’ Legal Status: An Analysis of Net Worth in the United States

Immigration status can have a significant role in an individual’s ability to build wealth and financial security. This factor influences racial-ethnic subgroups differently among Black, White, Latinx, and Asian individuals. Age, like immigration status, shares a relationship with accumulating wealth. Together, these two factors have varying effects on racial-ethnic subgroups ability to build wealth in the U.S. Older adults and racial ethnic minorities are more likely to be financially insecure and live in poverty relative to their U.S.-born counterparts. This study seeks to highlight the differences of wealth accumulation between these subgroups and the roles that immigration status and age play when examining wealth gaps within these subgroups.