Abstract
This entry focuses on the relationship between race/ethnicity and wealth accumulation within the USA. First, it introduces and operationalizes the topics of race, ethnicity, and wealth, conceptualizing their intersection as grounded in social inequity. Next, it describes the USA's demographic characteristics and stratified distribution of wealth. It then discusses economic and sociological explanations for the racial wealth gap and considers factors that contribute to current patterns of wealth accumulation. A political economy perspective is used to examine inequity in home‐ownership. Immigrants' wealth is briefly discussed. Finally, some consequences and currently proposed remedies to redress racial wealth inequality in the USA are presented.