Research has shown that people with low socioeconomic status are more likely to experience poor health outcomes including shorter life expectancy, higher rates of low birthweight births, and higher infant mortality rates. It has also shown that people belonging to racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to experience low socioeconomic status than are non-Hispanic Whites. Understanding racial and ethnic disparities in socioeconomic status is an important first step in addressing those disparities and improving health outcomes for all Kansans.
This issue brief describes racial and ethnic disparities that exist in socioeconomic status in Kansas. It focuses on three measures of socioeconomic status—poverty, low educational attainment and unemployment. The brief originated from the Chartbook: Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in a Changing Kansas. Data are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2011–2015).
Poverty has been linked to poor health outcomes. Individuals living in poverty are at a higher risk for exposure to adverse environments, stress and decreased access to health care and other resources. They also are more likely to have other socioeconomic experiences that can impact their lives, including low educational attainment and higher unemployment.
In 2015, 381,353 Kansans (13.6 percent) lived in poverty, which is defined as living below 100 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), or $24,250 for a family of four in 2015. Of Kansans living in poverty, three in five (60.1 percent) were non-Hispanic Whites, one in five (20.9 percent) were Hispanics, Any Race, and one in ten (10.2 percent) were non-Hispanic Blacks. The rest were non-Hispanic Other/Multiple Race Kansans (8.7 percent).
Non-Hispanic White Kansans made up the largest share of those living in poverty in 2015, just as they made up the largest share of the overall Kansas population. Kansans belonging to racial and ethnic minority groups, however, were much more likely to live in poverty than were non-Hispanic Whites.
In 2015, one-quarter of both Hispanic Kansans, Any Race (25.3 percent) and non-Hispanic Black Kansans (25.3 percent) lived in poverty, compared to one in five non-Hispanic Other/Multiple Race Kansans (19.6 percent) and one in ten non-Hispanic Whites (10.6 percent) (Figure 1).
In 2015, 182,906 Kansas adults age 25 and older (9.8 percent) had low educational attainment, meaning they did not have a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma (GED). Of those, more than half (53.8 percent) were non-Hispanic Whites and almost one-third (32.7 percent) were Hispanics, Any Race. The rest were non-Hispanics, Other/Multiple Races (6.8 percent) and non-Hispanic Blacks (6.7 percent).
Kansans belonging to racial and ethnic minority groups were more likely to have low educational attainment than were non-Hispanic Whites (Figure 2). Almost four in ten (38.7 percent) Hispanic Kansans, Any Race did not have a high school diploma or GED in 2015, compared to non-Hispanic Other/Multiple Race Kansans (13.8 percent), non-Hispanic Blacks (12.6 percent) and non-Hispanic Whites (6.4 percent).
An estimated 88,454 Kansans in the civilian labor force (5.9 percent) were unemployed in 2015. As defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the civilian labor force includes those age 16 and older who are not military personnel, federal government employees, retirees, handicapped or discouraged workers, or agricultural workers. Two in three (66.6 percent) unemployed Kansans in 2015 were non-Hispanic Whites, 13.6 percent were Hispanics, Any Race, 11.3 percent were non-Hispanic Blacks and 8.6 percent were non-Hispanic Other/Multiple Race Kansans.
In 2015, non-Hispanic Blacks were more than twice as likely to be unemployed than were non-Hispanic Whites (12.9 and 5.0 percent, respectively). Other racial/ethnic groups also were more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be unemployed; 9.7 percent of non-Hispanic Other/Multiple Race Kansans were unemployed as were 8.1 percent of Hispanics, Any Race (Figure 3).
While Hispanics, Any Race had a considerably higher rate of low educational attainment in 2015 than did other racial/ethnic groups, they were slightly less likely to be unemployed compared to other Kansas minorities.
Demographic distribution of poverty, low education and unemployment provides contextual information to better understand socioeconomic disparities in Kansas. In 2015, Kansans belonging to racial and ethnic minority groups were more likely to live in poverty, have low educational attainment, and be unemployed than were non-Hispanic Whites.
Socioeconomic status is a complex combination of factors—including income, education and occupation—that can have a strong influence on a person’s daily life. Living conditions, financial security and the ability to obtain health insurance can all be impacted by a person’s socioeconomic status. Identifying racial and ethnic disparities in socioeconomic status is an important first step to address disparities that put some populations at greater risk of poorer health outcomes.
The Kansas Health Institute supports effective policymaking through nonpartisan research, education and engagement. KHI believes evidence-based information, objective analysis and civil dialogue enable policy leaders to be champions for a healthier Kansas. Established in 1995 with a multiyear grant from the Kansas Health Foundation, KHI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization based in Topeka.
