Skin Tone, Race/Ethnicity, and Wealth Inequality among New Immigrants

Immigrants' racial/ethnic status has profound implications for their lives in the United States, including its influence on their ability to improve their financial well-being. We examine a particular type of financial well-being—wealth or net worth—and consider how both skin tone and race/ethnicity contribute to wealth inequality. To assess these dual influences, we use the New Immigrant Survey and the recently developed preference for whiteness hypothesis to argue that darker-skinned immigrants will have lower levels of wealth and will be less likely to own certain assets. Results generally support the hypothesis with the strongest evidence apparant in the full sample and among Asian immigrants. Overall, the results illuminate how immigrants with a racial/ethnic minority status and a darker complexion encounter multiple forms of disadvantage relative to white and/or lighter-skinned immigrants.