Silicon Valley Pain Index
Silicon Valley Pain Index
Silicon Valley Pain Index
.7% Amount of wage increase for top 10% of Silicon Valley workers from 1997-2017 after
adjusting for inflation, while wages decreased for the 10th-90th percentiles.ii
1% Amount of venture capital dollars (out of $19 billion) that went to African American
start-up tech firms.iii
1 Rank among the 3,142 U.S. counties for average monthly housing costs ($2,341) and
apartment rental rates in Santa Clara County ($2,911).iv
3.5 Number out of 1,000 Asian American and Asian women workers in high tech firms
who are executives.viii
4.5% Whites who do not complete high school in Santa Clara County.ix
6.5% Increase in commercial office space development from 2017 to 2018, with 18.2
million square feet of office space opening up in Santa Clara County.xiii
8.5% Decrease in number of new housing permits (to 5,500) from 2017 to 2018.xiv
11.5 Number out of 1,000 White men workers in high tech firms who are executives.xvi
1
$12 Amount of minimum wage in Saratoga and Los Gatos—two cities in the county that are
predominantly White and very wealthy—for businesses with 25 employees or less.xviii
13% Households that have more than $1 million in net worth, controlling 75% of the wealth.xx
13.2% San José State University students who have experienced homelessness in past year
(over 4,000 students).xxi
14.2% Amount of wage decrease for middle-class earners (50th percentile) in Silicon Valley
from 1997-2017 after adjusting for inflation. xxii
17% Newly approved housing units (614) deemed “affordable” (i.e., for households earning
50% of the median income or less) in 2017-18.xxiv
19% People who are living in poverty, using the Supplemental Poverty Measure (which is
adjusted for geographic differences in housing costs, as well as adds in-kind benefits
(e.g., nutritional assistance and subsidized housing) and subtracts necessary expenses
(e.g., income taxes, and costs of child care and medical care).xxvi
20% Households that have less than $400 in savings for an emergency, with the number of
households doubling for Latinos and tripling for Blacks.xxvii
23% Household renters who pay more than 50% of their income toward housing.xxix
34% Latinos who have died from COVID-19; Latinos are 23% of county’s 18-and-older
population.xxxiii
2
46% Black households who are not self-sufficient.xxxvi
46% Whites who work at Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, LinkedIn, and Yahoo, but hold
70% of executive positions.xxxvii
47% Asian Americans and Asians who work at Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, LinkedIn,
and Yahoo, but hold 25% of executive positions.xxxviii
50% San José State students who sometimes or often cut the size of their meals or skip
meals because they don’t have enough money.xxxix
161 Number of homeless people who died on the streets last year.xlvi
3
$1,000,000 Dollar amount cut from libraries in San José, the largest city in Santa
Clara County, for the 2020-21 budget.lvii
$449,000,000 Dollar amount of the San José Police Department’s budget for 2020-21.lix
$47,000,000,000 Dollar amount that Apple saved under the most recent Republican tax bill.lx
$48,200,000,000 Net worth of Larry Page, co-founder, Google, and 3rd richest Silicon Valley
mogul.lxi
$55,700,000,000 Net worth of Sergey Brin, co-founder, Google, and 2nd richest Silicon Valley
mogul.lxii
$76,000,000,000 Net worth of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook, and the richest Silicon Valley
mogul.lxiii
$248,200,000,000 Net worth of the top 10 richest Silicon Valley moguls, all of which are white
men.lxiv
$307,500,000,000 Dollar amount of cash reserves for four Silicon Valley companies (i.e.,
Alphabet [Google’s parent company], Apple, Cisco, and Facebook).lxv
* Research Note: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information in the index
and utilize the most current information, in many cases 2020 data is unavailable and statistics
represent the latest data accessible. Any errors brought to the attention of the author or the SJSU
Human Rights Institute will be researched, and if verified, will be corrected in future editions.
i https://www.revealnews.org/article/heres-the-clearest-picture-of-silicon-valleys-diversity-yet/
ii https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/03/in-silicon-valley-wages-are-down-for-everyone-but-the-top-10-percent.html
iiihttps://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/10/racial-gap-vc-firms/; https://sanjosespotlight.com/growing-
inequality-a-look-at-the-2019-silicon-valley-index/
ivhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/10/racial-gap-vc-firms/; https://sanjosespotlight.com/growing-
inequality-a-look-at-the-2019-silicon-valley-index/
v https://cnsnews.com/article/national/terence-p-jeffrey/9-20-richest-counties-are-dc-suburbs-virginia-suburbs-beat
vi https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/07/silicon-valley-google-diversity-black-women-workers
4
www.revealnews.org/article/heres-the-clearest-picture-of-silicon-valleys-diversity-
vii
yet/?utm_source=Reveal&utm_medium=social_media&utm_campaign=twitter
viii https://www.npr.org/2015/05/17/407478606/often-employees-rarely-ceos-challenges-asian-americans-face-in-tech
ix www.sccgov.org/sites/probation/Documents/2019_08_12_Juvenile%20Justice%20Annual%20Report_2018_Final.pdf
x https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/03/silicon-valley-diversity-black-latino-women-decline-study
xi https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-counties/ca/santa-clara-county-population/
xii https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/15/income-inequality-in-the-bay-area-is-among-nations-highest/
xiii https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10/22/bay-area-tops-u-s-in-new-office-space-but-lags-in-housing-starts/
xiv https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10/22/bay-area-tops-u-s-in-new-office-space-but-lags-in-housing-starts/
xv www.sccgov.org/sites/probation/Documents/Juvenile%20Justice%20System%20Annual%20Report%202015.pdf
xvi https://www.npr.org/2015/05/17/407478606/often-employees-rarely-ceos-challenges-asian-americans-face-in-tech
xvii https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-counties/ca/santa-clara-county-population/
xviii https://sanjosespotlight.com/silicon-valleys-minimum-wage-workers-will-see-bigger-paychecks-in-2020/
xix https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-counties/ca/santa-clara-county-population/
xxhttps://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2020/02/12/income-inequality-reaches-a-historic-high-in-silicon-valley-new-
report-shows
xxi https://sanjosespotlight.com/state-to-transfer-downtown-property-to-sjsu-for-student-faculty-housing/
xxii https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/03/in-silicon-valley-wages-are-down-for-everyone-but-the-top-10-percent.html
xxiii www.sccgov.org/sites/probation/Documents/2019_08_12_Juvenile%20Justice%20Annual%20Report_2018_Final.pdf
xxiv https://jointventure.org/publications/institute-publications/1760-2019-silicon-valley-index
xxv https://jointventure.org/publications/institute-publications/1760-2019-silicon-valley-index
xxvi http://stepupsv.org/poverty-in-the-valley/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/14/huge-number-of-bay-area-residents-couldnt-afford-a-400-emergency-
xxvii
before-coronavirus; https://belonging.berkeley.edu/taking-count
xxviii
www.sccgov.org/sites/probation/Documents/2019_08_12_Juvenile%20Justice%20Annual%20Report_2018_Final.pdf
https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2020/02/12/income-inequality-reaches-a-historic-high-in-silicon-valley-new-report-
xxix
shows
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/12/the-silicon-valley-paradox-one-in-four-people-are-at-risk-of-
xxx
hunger
xxxi https://www.revealnews.org/article/heres-the-clearest-picture-of-silicon-valleys-diversity-yet/
5
xxxii https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/27/california-school-test-scores-why-are-they-flatlining/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/14/im-really-disappointed-san-joses-latino-leaders-decry-disproportionate-
xxxiii
deaths-of-minority-residents/
xxxiv https://sf.curbed.com/2019/2/19/18229922/silicon-valley-index-2019-housing-gentrification-wealth-gap
xxxv www.sccgov.org/sites/probation/Documents/Juvenile%20Justice%20System%20Annual%20Report%202015.pdf
xxxvi https://jointventure.org/publications/institute-publications/1760-2019-silicon-valley-index
xxxvii https://asiasociety.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/HiddenInPlainSight_Paper_042.pdf
xxxviii http://nwasianweekly.com/2017/12/asian-american-leaders-in-tech-silicon-valley/
xxxix https://www.shfb.org/impact/blog/college-hunger-sjsu/
xl https://jointventure.org/publications/institute-publications/1760-2019-silicon-valley-index
xli https://sanjosespotlight.com/report-minorities-in-santa-clara-county-are-overrepresented-in-homeless-population/
xlii https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/27/california-school-test-scores-why-are-they-flatlining/
xliii https://www.vox.com/2018/5/19/17370288/silicon-valley-how-many-billionaires-start-up-tech-bay-area
xliv www.sccgov.org/sites/probation/Documents/Juvenile%20Justice%20System%20Annual%20Report%202015.pdf
xlv https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/27/california-school-test-scores-why-are-they-flatlining/
xlvi https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/south-bay/santa-clara-county-lists-161-homeless-deaths-this-year/2202040/
xlvii https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/05/16/san-jose-42-percent-spike-in-homeless-population/
xlviii https://siliconvalleyindicators.org/data/economy/income/personal-income/per-capita-income-by-race-ethnicity/
xlix https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/15/income-inequality-in-the-bay-area-is-among-nations-highest/
l https://siliconvalleyindicators.org/data/economy/income/personal-income/per-capita-income-by-race-ethnicity/
li https://siliconvalleyindicators.org/data/economy/income/personal-income/per-capita-income-by-race-ethnicity/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/12/the-number-of-homeless-people-in-america-increased-for-the-first-time-
lii
in-7-years/
liii https://siliconvalleyindicators.org/data/economy/income/personal-income/per-capita-income-by-race-ethnicity/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/06/25/the-eye-popping-definition-of-what-is-low-income-in-the-bay-area-
liv
increases-again/
lv https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/15/income-inequality-in-the-bay-area-is-among-nations-highest/
lvi https://sf.curbed.com/2019/2/19/18229922/silicon-valley-index-2019-housing-gentrification-wealth-gap
lvii https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-leaders-propose-sweeping-cuts-to-public-safety-to-close-gaping-budget-hole/
6
lviii https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/23/how-much-you-have-to-earn-to-be-a-top-earner-the-biggest-us-cities.html
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/17/instead-of-defunding-police-san-jose-creates-an-office-of-racial-equity-in-
lix
new-budget/
lx http://fortune.com/2017/12/06/tax-reform-apple/
lxi https://www.therichest.com/gadgets-and-tech/richest-silicon-valley-moguls-2019-tech/
lxii https://www.therichest.com/gadgets-and-tech/richest-silicon-valley-moguls-2019-tech/
lxiii https://www.therichest.com/gadgets-and-tech/richest-silicon-valley-moguls-2019-tech/
lxiv https://www.therichest.com/gadgets-and-tech/richest-silicon-valley-moguls-2019-tech/
lxv https://www.valuewalk.com/2019/11/top-10-companies-with-largest-cash-reserves-in-the-world/