Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
Admissions

Harvard’s Racial Diversity Is on Trial. But What Do We Know About Its Economic Diversity?

By Audrey Williams June October 24, 2018

As Harvard continues to battle claims that its undergraduate admissions process discriminates against Asian-American applicants, talk in a Boston courtroom this week focused on the socioeconomic status of students at the Ivy League institution. In short, lawyers for the plaintiff argued, wealthy students are overrepresented at Harvard, and it would be better to use socioeconomic criteria instead of race as a factor in admissions.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

As Harvard continues to battle claims that its undergraduate admissions process discriminates against Asian-American applicants, talk in a Boston courtroom this week focused on the socioeconomic status of students at the Ivy League institution. In short, lawyers for the plaintiff argued, wealthy students are overrepresented at Harvard, and it would be better to use socioeconomic criteria instead of race as a factor in admissions.

About 200 students, alumni, and employees of Harvard U. gathered in Harvard Square on October 14, 2018, as a lawsuit challenging the university’s use of race in admissions was about to open in federal court in Boston.
Harvard on Trial
Detailed background on the lawsuit over the university’s race-conscious admissions policy, the case’s implications for selective colleges, and coverage of the trial as it unfolded, in a federal court in Boston.
  • Harvard Doesn’t Discriminate Against Asian American Applicants, U.S. Appeals Court Rules
  • 3 Takeaways From the Appeal of the Harvard Admissions Lawsuit
  • A Judge Advised Harvard to Give Its Admissions Officers Training to Stop Bias. Will That Help?

“Socioeconomic diversity at Harvard is deeply lacking,” said Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation who testified on Monday on behalf of the plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions.

It’s true that Harvard’s student body is overwhelmingly affluent and is much less economically diverse than is the nation as a whole. But it’s broadly in line with its peer institutions in the Ivies, which all look roughly the same in terms of their students’ socioeconomic diversity.

According to data from Opportunity Insights, a Harvard-based research and policy institute focused on increasing economic mobility, here’s what we know about where Harvard stands:

Students from families that are in the top 20 percent of earners are well represented on the Harvard campus.

Sixty-seven percent of the university’s undergraduates come from families that made about $110,000 or more a year. That share rises to 72 percent at Princeton University, and is 62 percent — the lowest in the Ivy League — at Columbia University.

Harvard falls near the bottom among its Ivy peers in terms of the share of its students in the top 1 percent, but the range is a narrow one.

Fifteen percent of Harvard students come from families that made about $630,000 or more a year. Only two Ivy institutions — Columbia and Cornell Universities — have a smaller share of students from such families, at 13 percent and 10 percent, respectively. At the top of the list is Dartmouth College, with 21 percent. The chart below shows the proportion of students enrolled at each Ivy League institution who are from the top 1 percent.

Only about $50,000 separates the median annual family income for students at Harvard from their peers at other Ivy League institutions.

At Harvard, the median annual family income is $168,800. Columbia’s is the lowest, at $150,900, and Brown University’s is the highest, is $204,200.

ADVERTISEMENT

The share of Harvard students from families in the bottom fifth in earnings is in the low single digits, just as it is throughout the Ivy League.

Harvard, at 4.5 percent, has the second-highest share of students whose families made about $20,000 or less a year. That’s roughly double the share at Yale University, whose 2.1 percent puts it at the bottom. The highest is at Columbia, which edged by Harvard with 5.1 percent.

Audrey Williams June is a senior reporter who writes about the academic workplace, faculty pay, and work-life balance in academe. Contact her at audrey.june@chronicle.com, or follow her on Twitter @chronaudrey.

Read other items in Harvard on Trial.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Admissions & Enrollment
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
June_Audrey_Williams.jpg
About the Author
Audrey Williams June
Audrey Williams June is the news-data manager at The Chronicle. She explores and analyzes data sets, databases, and records to uncover higher-education trends, insights, and stories. Email her at audrey.june@chronicle.com, or follow her on Twitter @audreywjune.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
Duke Administrators Accused of Bypassing Shared-Governance Process in Offering Buyouts
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption
WASHINGTON, DISTICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2025/04/14: A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holding a sign with Release Mahmud Khalil written on it, stands in front of the ICE building while joining in a protest. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the ICE building, demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and all those targeted for speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Protesters demand an end to U.S. complicity and solidarity with the resistance in Gaza. (Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
An Anonymous Group’s List of Purported Critics of Israel Helped Steer a U.S. Crackdown on Student Activists

From The Review

John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson
Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin