Nine households control 15% of wealth in Silicon Valley as inequality widens | California

Financial inequality has reached a staggering milestone in Silicon Valley: simply 9 households maintain 15% of the area’s wealth, in response to new analysis from San Jose State College. A mere 0.1% of residents maintain 71% of the tech hub’s wealth.The findings come from the 2025 “Silicon Valley Ache Index”, a report printed by SJSU’s Human Rights Institute annually since 2020. The report goals to quantify “structured inequalities” in Silicon Valley, and measures “ache” as “each private and group misery or struggling”.This yr’s index stories that the wealth divide has widened in Silicon Valley at double the speed of the entire United States over the previous decade. The 9 wealthiest households within the valley management $683.2bn – a $136bn improve over the previous yr.On the similar time, 110,000 households reported almost none or no belongings.The price of residing in Silicon Valley has risen as properly: renters should earn $136,532 to afford an house – the very best within the nation.The report ranked San Jose No 4 in “impossibly unaffordable” cities worldwide (after Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver). But, no cities in Silicon Valley have raised the minimal wage prior to now three years. The report finds that 54,582 low-income households shouldn’t have entry to an reasonably priced dwelling in San Jose and that homelessness grew 8.2% from 2023.Once they created the Silicon Valley Ache Index in 2020, shortly after the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, San Jose State College researchers had been impressed by the Katrina Ache Index, which aimed to quantify the injustices New Orleans residents confronted after Hurricane Katrina. The index continues to indicate stark racial inequalities.Hispanic employees in San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara can anticipate to make 33 cents for each $1 their white friends take dwelling. And though shareholders have voiced commitments to variety, fairness and inclusion, solely 3% of workers working in analysis and growth at Apple are Black (in contrast with 6% Hispanic/Latino, 36% white and 50% Asian).In the meantime, police violence stays an actual concern – even years after the Black Lives Matter protests. Ten individuals died in police custody within the Santa Clara county sheriff’s workplace in 2024 – the very best in 20 years. And San Jose reported 5 workplace concerned shootings, up three from 2023.Nonetheless, the report did notice sure enhancements within the Silicon Valley space – together with a lower in police use of power incidents in San Jose, an enlargement in providers to forestall homelessness and environmental sustainability packages.