How median income changed from 2015 to 2016, when broken down by race. (Courtesy of DCFPI)

Some hay has been made about a slight dip in D.C.’s median income from 2015 to 2016—falling from $76,233 to $75,506—while most urban areas saw increases in the annual American Community Survey.

But that 1.5 percent decline obscures much bigger, and growing, racial inequities: the median income of white families in the District actually grew last year. The decrease comes from Latino and black households, particularly the latter.

African American households saw their median income drop from $42,000 to $38,000 from 2015 to 2016. As the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute notes, black households now make a third of what white families do (which currently stands around $127,000).

You can see the figures from last year in the chart above. It isn’t a one-year anomaly: white D.C. residents have seen their income grow significantly since 2010, whereas it has been practically flat for African Americans. This graph shows it clearly (note the different scale on each side of the y-axis):

But the article largely misses the big issue: race. Which is a big deal! Here’s a chart of median income by race over time. See any trends? pic.twitter.com/MKB138BwXM

— Sam Rosen-Amy (@rosenamy) September 17, 2017

Since the turn of the 21st century, D.C. has seen its median household income rise by more than 30 percent. Yet about 120,000 residents still live in poverty—which in 2016, means an annual income of $19,000 a year for a three-person household—accounting for nearly 20 percent of the city’s population.

“The District’s overall economic growth remains steady, yet this growth has not reduced the number of D.C. residents struggling to make ends meet, or the economic barriers faced by people of color,” writes Claire Zippel and Jodi Kwarciany of DCFPI.

The racial income disparity is also reflected in the poverty rate. Citywide, it is around 19 percent. But when broken down by race, 28 percent of black Washingtonians live in poverty.

In other words, take note that the 1.5 percent citywide decrease in median income from 2015 to 2016 is being borne by African Americans and Latinos to a lesser extent. White Washingtonians are doing just fine.