While Silicon Valley leads the nation in job and income growth, tech innovation, and venture capital investment, the swelling tide of prosperity in the region is leaving the less affluent farther behind than ever, a report from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Joint Venture Silicon Valley finds.

The 2014 Silicon Valley Index (72 pages, HTML), an annual look at the economic vitality and health of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and parts of Alameda and Santa Cruz counties, reported a 52 percent year-over-year increase in foreign immigration to the region, the highest net migration in fourteen years, and the most impressive gains for commercial development in a decade. At the same time, the latest data with respect to economic development, housing, education, public health, land use, environment, governance, arts and culture, and other indicators shows that significant disparities between racial and ethnic groups persist. For example, the per capita income of Latinos, the lowest-earning racial/ethnic group in the region — where 45 percent of households earned more than $100,000 in 2012 — was only 30 percent that of whites, the highest-earning group.

The report also found that the economy of the valley added 46,665 jobs in 2013, an increase of 3.4 percent over 2012, driven largely by employment growth in computer hardware design, information services, and the Internet industry. Still, while the monthly unemployment rate in the region has continued to fall since 2010 — dipping to 5.8 percent in November — and rates have declined among nearly all racial/ethnic groups since 2011, unemployment for African Americans remains above 10 percent.

"This year's index proves that a rising tide is not enough to lift all boats," said Emmett D. Carson, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. "The gaps and disparities, particularly for low- and middle-income households and along racial lines, are more pronounced than ever. The community must take deliberate policy actions to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to share in the region’s prosperity."