Could you cover a surprise $400 expense? Data shows a racial divide

A new look at Americans finances shows large disparities in how prepared families are for an unexpected expense.

The data, compiled by Motley Fool Money, found that a large percentage of Black and Hispanic households lack a financial cushion, in contrast to White and Asian households.

A common way to measure how a household could handle a financial emergency is whether it could cover an unexpected $400 expense.

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The data found that 9% of White households couldn't cover this expense, compared with 20% of Black households, 18% of Hispanic households and 2% of Asian households, according to the Federal Reserve.

Researchers found that the most common way Americans across racial and ethnic groups would cover such an expense is with money from a checking or savings account.

Seventy percent of White households and 80% of Asian families say they have enough cash to cover an expense of more than $1,000. Despite that, White Americans reported the highest level of financial worry, with an average score of 3.6 out of 6.

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Financial worry is based on how often respondents say they worry about their finances.

The data showed that Hispanic and Latino Americans reported the lowest level of financial worry, with an average score of 3.3.