Guess which African Community in the US has the lowest Median Household Income?

[Idilinaa]

Wow i never thought of it like that. I had always assumed they wiukd have been able to accurately assess somali wealth due to us oaying taxes to the irs. But I guess it makes sense that you won't be able to actually use that info to research a community since you cant necessarily distinguish somalis with this data

Exactly ,tax data only shows individual earnings and doesn’t identify specific ethnic groups (like “Somali”), and it also overlooks informal or family-based income.

Since much of Somali income comes from small family businesses, logistics/transport, retail, and other cash-based work, a large share isn’t fully captured in surveys or W-2 wage data. As a result, official statistics often undercount what Somali households actually earn and circulate within their community. So even if Somalis pay taxes, their true collective wealth and business activity won’t show up clearly in official stats

 

[Midas]

Exactly , tax data shows individual earnings, but it can’t identify ethnicity (like “Somali”), and it misses informal or family-based income. So even if Somalis pay taxes, their true collective wealth and business activity won’t show up clearly in official stats, which is why their economic strength is often underestimated.

You mentioned this before but I think the fact that somali remittances are basically being quoted everywhere as $1 billion dollars yearly even though this is a statistic from 2009 shows how bad data on somalia is.

I dont know about anybody else but my own families economic situation is night and day if we look at 2009 vs now. Yet somehow a somali community which has likely almost double in size and grown far more educated compared to 2009 is somehow still sending only $1 billion back ?

 

[Chaseyourdreamzz]

Our parents that work file their taxes like every other hard working American.

@Chaseyourdreamzz @zeilaprime

A lot of old Somalis are still working low wage jobs here in america. You can find the old heads driving Uber, working in warehouses, and even working random shitty jobs at the airports.

I be feeling bad for the ones working at the airport ngl. These old Somali ladies are making poverty wages doing janitorial work at the airport. The ones still working won't be able to retire comfortably anytime soon without the help of their kids.

Most Somali kids will help their parents retire my aunt is in her late 60s now her kids pay most of her bills and they are all raised in America we are not like whites who put their parents in retirement homes and forget about them

 

[Idilinaa]

You mentioned this before but I think the fact that somali remittances are basically being quoted everywhere as $1 billion dollars yearly even though this is a statistic from 2009 shows how bad data on somalia is.

I dont know about anybody else but my own families economic situation is night and day if we look at 2009 vs now. Yet somehow a somali community which has likely almost double in size and grown far more educated compared to 2009 is somehow still sending only $1 billion back ?

As outdated as that stat is, it actually indirectly exposes their earning power and household wealth back in 2009. It makes sense as well that they sent that much because they went from having 30% self-support index in 1999 to 80% self support in 2006.

You can even see the economic expansion happening by the total number of Businesses, in places like Columbus, Ohio they have 15 000 , when they had only 700 in 2006 and 1000 in 2009 in places like Minnesota from an old studies and reports i've seen.

A lot of older-first generation Somalis worked in a wide range of service sector jobs everything from social services and healthcare to accounting, farming, pharmacy, butchery, childcare, trucking, and even running their own businesses.
View attachment 373430

Although it often goes unmentioned, there are even Somali construction crews operating in places like Minnesota and Ohio.

Research has shown that many Somalis hold multiple jobs and often run side businesses at the same time.
View attachment 373434

While some may have started out in retail or airport jobs when they first arrived, they eventually moved beyond those roles , pursuing education and starting their own businesses.

Here’s an example:
Listen to this man explain what it was like when he first arrived and how he strategized his success which mirrors the approach of many Somalis. (He later earned a master’s degree and now owns several businesses and a venture capitalist firm.)



Remember the quote I shared earlier? Do you really think Somalis could send $3,800–$5,000 each per year back home while earning poverty level wages?


For reference, the individual cited as an example in this article was an accountant and although the study doesn’t clarify this, much of that money is likely direct investment rather than just personal remittances:

Somalis abroad are rebuilding their war-torn country through selfless giving

At the end of every month, Ahmed Abubakar walks to a local money transfer agency in Memphis, Tennessee to send money to the Horn of Africa. Abubakar, 29, works as an accountant and the cash is wired to his mother and siblings who now reside 8,000 miles away in Nairobi. It also goes to friends...

www.hiiraan.com

View attachment 373431

Also, @Atoosh mentioned welfare/government assistance. The truth is that most Somalis in America are self-reliant, with a self-support index of around 80 for over two decades.

In fact, the counties with the highest concentration of Somalis also have the highest employment and self-support rates, because they create opportunities and hire from within their own communities.
View attachment 373432

It also explained here as well: Extremely few Somalis even receive government assistance:
View attachment 373437

Honestly, believing Somalis can support themselves on poverty wages without government assistance while still sending huge sums back home is just delusional.

And a significant portion of the oldheads who first took on various services sector and labour work when they first arrived to two decades ago now have moved up in career ladder even landed corporate , public sector and professional roles it very visible. Those in older ages have now retired and replaced by younger more educated youth who they invested in.

So there is no way Somalis would be sending a similar amount of money as they did in 2009. It compounds what you were saying.

 

[LacagChaser]

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

80% of somalis around my age have some sort of post secondary education.

 

[Zak12]

@Idilinaa I googled what are the poorest neighborhoods in Minneapolis and I found its the Seward and Cedar Riverside areas which seem to have a lot of Somalis. Is there a reason for this despite the statistics being skewed?

Mapping concentrated poverty in Minneapolis-St. Paul — Scioto Analysis

Back in 2019, my colleague Rob wrote a blog post looking at areas of high poverty in Columbus . This blog post still resonates with a lot of people who understand the history and context of Columbus, and can see how the current concentration of poverty reflects the history of the city.

www.sciotoanalysis.com

Cedar-Riverside, Minneapolis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Idilinaa]

@Idilinaa I googled what are the poorest neighborhoods in Minneapolis and I found its the Seward and Cedar Riverside areas which seem to have a lot of Somalis. Is there a reason for this despite the statistics being skewed?

Mapping concentrated poverty in Minneapolis-St. Paul — Scioto Analysis

Back in 2019, my colleague Rob wrote a blog post looking at areas of high poverty in Columbus . This blog post still resonates with a lot of people who understand the history and context of Columbus, and can see how the current concentration of poverty reflects the history of the city.

www.sciotoanalysis.com

Cedar-Riverside, Minneapolis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

St. Paul and Cedar-Riverside are urban metro areas. If you read further, it gives a rundown of various neighborhoods, showing that it’s the urban areas of Minneapolis that have higher poverty rates, whereas the surrounding suburbs tend to have lower poverty rates.

Many Somali families have moved out to the surrounding suburbs of the Twin Cities and now commute into the inner city for work or business.

The reason areas like Cedar-Riverside are called “Little Mogadishu” is because of the concentration of Somali businesses and cultural centers, not because all or even most Somalis live there. It was more of an entry point for new arrivals because it was more affordable, but as their wealth and professional status grew, many moved out. Today, Somalis are dispersed throughout the region.