Nine households control 15% of wealth in Silicon Valley as inequality widens | California
Economic inequality has reached an astounding step in Silicon Valley: only nine households hold 15% of the wealth of the region, according to new research from the State University of San Jose. Only 0.1% of residents hold 71% of the wealth of the technological center.
The results come from the “Silicon Valley Pain Index” of 2025, a report published each year by the SJSU Human Rights Institute since 2020. The report aims to quantify “structured inequalities” in Silicon Valley, and measures “pain” as “personal and community and community suffering”.
This year’s index reports that the fracture of wealth has expanded in Silicon Valley to double the rate of the whole of the United States in the last decade. The richest nine households in the valley control $ 683.2 billion – an increase of $ 136 billion in the past year.
At the same time, 110,000 households said almost none or no assets.
The cost of living in Silicon Valley has also increased: tenants must win $ 136,532 to afford a highest apartment in the country.
The report ranked San Jose n ° 4 in “incredibly inafferable” cities around the world (after Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver). However, no city in Silicon Valley has increased the minimum wage in the past three years. The report finds that 54,582 low-income households do not have access to an affordable house in San Jose and that homelessness increased by 8.2% compared to 2023.
When they created the Silicon Valley pain index in 2020, shortly after the national demonstrations of Black Lives Matter, researchers at the San Jose State University were inspired by the Katrina pain index, which aimed to quantify the injustices of New Orleans residents faced after Hurricane Katrina. The index continues to show marked racial inequalities.
Hispanic workers from San Jose, Sunnyvalle and Santa Clara can expect to make 33 cents for each $ 1 that their white peers win at home. And although shareholders have expressed commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion, only 3% of employees working in research and development in Apple are black (against 6% Hispanic / Latinos, 36% white and 50% Asian).
Meanwhile, police violence remains a real concern – even years after the demonstrations of Black Lives Matter. Ten people died in police custody in the Bureau du Sheriff du Comté de Santa Clara in 2024 – the highest in two decades. And San Jose pointed out that five shootings affected by the Office, up three compared to 2023.
However, the report noted certain improvements in the Silicon Valley region – including a reduction in the use of the police of force incidents in San Jose, an expansion of services to prevent roaming and environmental sustainability programs.
