---
title: You're Way More Likely to Become a Millionaire if You're White or Asian
description: 'Race plays a huge role in determining which people become millionaires: Asians and whites have far better odds than blacks and Hispanics.'
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published: '2016-01-21T15:03:20.000Z'
modified: '2016-01-21T15:03:20.000Z'
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![graduates at ceremony](https://img.money.com/2016/01/160121_coll_whiteasiangraduates.jpg)

If you're white or Asian college graduate, you have a significant leg up on your black and Hispanic peers when it comes to the odds of becoming a millionaire.

In a study on the effects of age, education and race on a [person's odds of becoming a millionaire](http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-millionaire-odds/), economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that race was the most important factor. They discovered that while a college education increased black and Hispanic people's chances of becoming a millionaire, it helped whites and Asians far more.

Case in point: Middle-aged white and Asian college graduates each have about a 1 in 5 shot of reaching seven-figure net worth, while blacks and Latinos who have achieved the same education level each have about a chance of slightly more than 6%.

Similarly, a black person without a high school diploma has a less than 1% chance of becoming a millionaire, but the odds increase to 6.7% with a graduate degree. White Americans who don't complete high school have a 1.7% chance, but finishing grad school increases their chances of achieving a net worth of more than $1 million to 37%.

"It’s a false narrative to say race doesn’t matter in the United States,” said William Emmons, a senior economic adviser at the St. Louis Fed, said in a [Bloomberg News](http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-millionaire-odds/) story. “It demonstrably does in the results we keep coming upon.”

Even age doesn't play a big role in lessening the impact of race on one's likelihood to strike it rich. Asians under 40 years older have a 2.4% chance of becoming a millionaire—odds that increase to 21% by the time they approach retirement. Latinos, however, have a less than 1% chance of becoming a millionaire when they're young, which rises to just 2.3% by the time they're 62 or older.

The results fall in line with research findings on racial discrimination in the job market. In one [study](http://www.nber.org/papers/w9873) conducted in 2003, researchers responded to newspaper help-wanted ads with fake resumes from applicants with white- and black-sounding names. Those with names such as Emily Walsh and Greg Baker received 50% more callbacks for interviews than those with names such as Lakisha Washington and Jamal Jones.

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