Santa Rosa has 8th largest minority wage gap among like-sized areas, according to national ranking

People of color in Santa Rosa made $28,000 less than their white counterparts when comparing median annual earnings, landing the city in the 8th spot on a national list of mid-sized metropolitan areas with the biggest gap between the wages of white and minority workers.

The ranking, released Thursday by the financial technology startup Self Financial, Inc., relies on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey data to compare median annual earnings.

The analysis shows white full-time workers in Santa Rosa earned $70,000 annually while workers who identified as anything other than non-Hispanic white earned $42,000 that same year, a 40% difference.

The city ranked 8th out of a list of 78 for mid-sized areas.

A look at employee wages in smaller metropolitan areas, those with 100,000 to 350,000 residents, found the city of Napa had the second largest minority wage gap in the country, according to the report.

The city also ranked second when compared to all areas in the U.S. with at least 100,000 people.

The median annual income in Napa for workers who identified as a racial minority was $40,000. The white workforce made 52% more, or $84,000 in median annual income, the report found.

Maddie Hirshfield, the political director for the North Bay Labor Council, which represents more than 70,000 unionized workers in Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino and Marin counties, said she was not surprised about Santa Rosa landing on the list based on the work she’s done with the council.

She’s found people of color, especially women of color, make a lot less than white employees locally. Unionizing can be one way to boost their wages, she added.

“I don’t think any employer is saying ‘This person is a person of color so I’m going to pay them less,’” Hirshfield said. “I think it’s just an organic process because of that deep-seated racism that we’ve had for years.”

On a larger scale, Los Angeles had the largest wage disparity between white and minority workers (a 47% difference that favored white workers) in the country when ranked against other areas with a population greater than 1 million people, the report showed.

Minority workers in the Golden State made a median annual income of $45,000, nearly 38% less than white workers.

California’s wage gap was the highest in the country while Vermont ranked the lowest, reporting no difference in the median annual income of white and minority workers, the report found.

Minorities make up 64% of the Golden State, while only 8% of Vermont’s population is classified as racially diverse, the report said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.