Silicon Valley Pain Index shows growing gaps in wealth, racial equity for people of color

LIFE EXPECTANCY IS shrinking, the poor are getting poorer and Silicon Valley’s wealthiest are flourishing.

The 2022 Silicon Valley Pain Index report highlights how Santa Clara County generated $340 billion in gross domestic product in 2021 — an increase of 4.4 percent since 2020 — while nearly half of children in Silicon Valley are living in households who can’t make ends meet with their income. The lifespans of Black and Latino residents also have taken a turn for the worse, while the top 10 percent of earners in the region control three quarters of the collective wealth, the study shows.