Latino wealth has been declining for the past nine years, report indicates

U.S. Latino wealth, as a share of national wealth, shrank by more than 20% from 2016 to 2025, according to a recently published report. In the U.S., Latinos make up nearly 20% of the population.

According to the analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), the Latino share of national wealth stood at 2.9% in the third quarter of 2016 and at just 2.3% in the third quarter of 2025. 

David Kass, ATF's executive director, said Latino families' declining share of national wealth is a clear signal that the Trump-GOP economy favors the billionaire class, which by majority is exclusively white.

"Trump's tax giveaways to billionaires and big business have failed the working and middle class while hurting Latino communities and enriching elites at the expense of the vast majority of Americans,” Kass said. “To reverse this trend and build wealth in Latino and working-class communities, we must unrig our tax system and create a just tax code that works for all — not just the wealthy few."

The data reveal that if Latinos’ wealth share had remained constant over that period, they would be a trillion dollars richer today.

The analysis is especially important in the current climate because, as President Donald Trump heads into the second year of his second term, there must be a clear understanding of the impact of his policies, mainly on the Latino community, said Pablo Willis, communications and Latino Outreach with ATF. 

“Especially when we're looking at wealth, because wealth is something that you don't necessarily see the big picture every single day,” he said. “But looking at the long-term economic trend, Latino wealth is shrinking relatively dramatically.”

The inflation-adjusted wealth of the average white household grew by over a third (34%) between 2016 and 2025, but the average Latino household’s wealth grew by only 12%, little more than a third.

Willis said this also includes business owners, because, despite being owners, they don’t own the property where they are located. 

“A lot of the time, especially small family companies and things like that, they're renting. They're not owning their equipment, they're not owning their properties. And that's a part of wealth and the valuation of the overall value of the companies,” Willis said. 

The report shows that the worst growth for Latino wealth is in two categories: corporate stock and private businesses. 

Latino households hold about 25 percent less wealth in stocks in 2025 compared to 2016. And on an inflation-adjusted basis, Latino ownership of private businesses has not grown at all since 1989, according to the analysis. 

Willis said this is concerning because, despite the Latino population’s continuous growth, the wealth doesn’t grow because of the billionaires who own more and more of the nation’s wealth. 

The solutions

To reverse this loss, progressive tax reforms that use the revenue raised to lower costs and increase opportunities for workers and families must be implemented. 

Wilis said education is the key to learning more about what is going on in current times. He said through several reports, ATF is trying to expose how Trump's fiscal policies and the fiscal policies of the GOP and the billionaire class in general are really forming the community in ways beyond immigration, which tends to be an important topic for many Latinos. 

“But also, you know, when we talk about the SNAP cuts, when we talk about health care, when we talk about access to college education, all of these areas are being extremely impacted by GOP fiscal policies,” he said. “And overall, we're trying to just expose the fact that this administration is picking winners and losers, and they're picking billionaires and not our community, and that's what we hope to generate awareness about.”