Although these two views of the concern about energy use among black families differ, they also coincide in an important way. They differ by taking account both of low energy use among poor households and the much larger amount of energy the better-off black households use. They coincide because even well off black customers may be disadvantaged in the degree to which they can have the energy they can afford because of limited choice of housing and residential location.

The WCMS data show that poor or not, black households use less energy than others. Yet their energy consumption increases with rising income just as with other households. Differences between black households and others at every broad income level that could be measured are less important than likenesses. When differences exist at similar income levels, the reason appears to be partly in the type, quality, and location of housing in which blacks live. Also, black households are at the lower end of each income class and have less wealth in each one than white households. Therefore, they have less buying power than those with whom they are being compared.

Black families are 30 percent of poor families but 10 percent of all families. Nearly half of black households are poor, compared to 15 percent of other households (Table 7-2). About one-fifth had incomes over $12,000 in 1972 compared with two-fifths of all other households. Fewer than one in ten reported $16,000 or more (the well off in this study) compared with over twice that proportion among others (Table 7-2 and Figure 7-1).

On the other hand, the level of living among blacks has improved over the past twenty years, though not as much as for others. In 1951, three percent of all black families had $10,000 or more income (in 1971 dollars). This grew to 30 percent in 1971 (Table 7-3). With rising incomes blacks have become an important market for consumer goods. Business knows about this growing market. Market research about black households' buying habits has mushroomed in recent years. Business used to watch the rest of the market almost exclusively—the part that showed an increase from 17 to 54 percent of all families in the $10,000 and over income bracket (Table 7-3).

The trend during the past decade toward attracting black consumers results partly from the increasing buying power of blacks. A good deal of the impetus, however, stems from the civil rights movement and the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, which have emphasized equal access to all accommodations and services. Finally, there is the obviously expanding black trade in central cities of metropolitan areas, where almost 60 percent of the total black population fourteen years old and over lived in 1972.