Large US City Black Populations ('21 ACS estimates)

[dora_da_destroyer]

Facts, but don't confuse me, it's not only the raw population that I consider LA for. It's the fact that there's a legacy of black hospitability abd migration that, while certainly less pronounced today, still exists---->LA is a destination for Black Americans...

Black LA is segregated, as most other cities are, but there's a bubble of a million and a half people (slightly larger than the size of Dallas) that overlaps South LA with its border cities, that is ~29% black TODAY. That is a substantial concentration of black community and doesn't exist if the attraction isn't there, even with the demographic shifts in LA over the last 20 years...

I don't conflate what LA was as a destination and hub in the 40s-80s to what it is today. 1) LA is LA, it's attractive beyond the black population, i don't see, in my circle, people moving to LA for the black community. they are there for the industry, weather or family. 2) like most of CA when it comes to our black population, it's concentrated in lower economic tiers, that alone won't let me call any of this a mecca as you don't see black people thriving or exerting power 3) the metros get real white and mexican when you expand past LA, and I'm lumping "suburbs" like Compton, Long Beach and Inglewood into LA, they should be LA if not for political games being played with the map back in the day

Having lived in DC, Philly, NY, and Chicago and having spent a lot of time in ATL, then moved back to Cali, Cali doesn't have a Black Mecca. It has a handful of cities where you can feel comfortable as a black person, but the true community, power, diversity, etc that LA and Oakland once had has all but disappeared over the last 25 years. You got places like ATL, NY, DC, Charlotte/NC, Houston where black folk are thriving....then you got Cali, where the black folk making it get lost in and dispersed into a sea of "others" while the core clusters are mainly underserved, poor, and struggling

 

[El Bombi]

I don't conflate what LA was as a destination and hub in the 40s-80s to what it is today. 1) LA is LA, it's attractive beyond the black population, i don't see, in my circle, people moving to LA for the black community. they are there for the industry, weather or family. 2) like most of CA when it comes to our black population, it's concentrated in lower economic tiers, that alone won't let me call any of this a mecca as you don't see black people thriving or exerting power 3) the metros get real white and mexican when you expand past LA, and I'm lumping "suburbs" like Long Beach and Inglewood into LA, they should be LA if not for political games being played with the map back in the day

Having lived in DC, Philly, NY, and Chicago and having spent a lot of time in ATL, then moved back to Cali, Cali doesn't have a Black Mecca. It has a handful of cities where you can feel comfortable as a black person, but the true community, power, diversity, etc that LA and Oakland once had has all but disappeared over the last 25 years. You got places like ATL, NY, DC, Charlotte/NC, Houston where black folk are thriving....then you got Cali, where the black folk making it get lost in and dispersed into a sea of "others" while the core clusters are mainly underserved, poor, and struggling

Perfectly worded.

 

[UberEatsDriver]

Facts, but don't confuse me, it's not only the raw population that I consider LA for. It's the fact that there's a legacy of black hospitability abd migration that, while certainly less pronounced today, still exists---->LA is a destination for Black Americans...

I'm in Idaho working with a brother from Tupelo, Mississippi who was telling me Monday how excited he was to see LA on his last company road tour. Even if the preference to live in LA has changed with the times, it is still a magnet and bucket list city for black Americans...

Black LA is segregated, as most other cities are, but there's a bubble of a million and a half people (slightly larger than the size of Dallas) that overlaps South LA with its border cities, that is ~29% black TODAY. That is a substantial concentration of black community and doesn't exist if the attraction isn't there, even with the demographic shifts in LA over the last 20 years...

I love your point about White America too, people gotta rub shoulders with these muhfukkas ti get it. Again I've been in Boise, Idaho for 16 days. Black visibility is minimal (I've seen 33 black people in two weeks), so black cultural impact is nearly nonexistent. These muhfukkas karaoke to Morgan Waller and dress like it's rodeo day and throw out references from The Office and MadTV...

We don't see this when we live within our black coc00ns, which isn't a bad thing, it just is what it is....

I lived in Charlotte mid-10s and fukking loved it. Make the leap Dora, you won't regret it!



I'll say this though, there's a visible black professional class in Salt Lake. Much more than I'd have guessed. I can see why black folks, who don't really "need" to live in a sea of blackness, would be attracted to SLC. It's an attractive city...

Utah is like living in the twilight zone you gotta be a weirdo that likes your Cousin be attracted to that place.

Do they even know what clubs are over there?

 

[murksiderock]

I don't conflate what LA was as a destination and hub in the 40s-80s to what it is today. 1) LA is LA, it's attractive beyond the black population, i don't see, in my circle, people moving to LA for the black community. they are there for the industry, weather or family. 2) like most of CA when it comes to our black population, it's concentrated in lower economic tiers, that alone won't let me call any of this a mecca as you don't see black people thriving or exerting power 3) the metros get real white and mexican when you expand past LA, and I'm lumping "suburbs" like Compton, Long Beach and Inglewood into LA, they should be LA if not for political games being played with the map back in the day

Having lived in DC, Philly, NY, and Chicago and having spent a lot of time in ATL, then moved back to Cali, Cali doesn't have a Black Mecca. It has a handful of cities where you can feel comfortable as a black person, but the true community, power, diversity, etc that LA and Oakland once had has all but disappeared over the last 25 years. You got places like ATL, NY, DC, Charlotte/NC, Houston where black folk are thriving....then you got Cali, where the black folk making it get lost in and dispersed into a sea of "others" while the core clusters are mainly underserved, poor, and struggling

We can agree to disagree. Because New York and Chicago and The District and Atlanta are all cities where they are seeing rapid declines in black population and watching historically black answers transform...

The saving grace for places like Atlanta and Washington, and NY and Chi to lesser extents, are the massive black suburban populations that Los Angeles doesn't have to the same degree...

You're educated Dora, I KNOW that you know there's a litany of journalism and literature out there on the changing black demographics, including decline, in all of those cities you just mentioned...

I don't think it changes that these places are meccas though. And I think because you're from California, your emotional investment in California is larger so your criticism and the lens you view California thru is harsher; the limitations of Black California aren't exclusive to California and for the most part, the worst of the black decline and resulting casualties (smaller political influence, black class issues, etc) are over in Los Angeles, while many cities, including the ones you named, are just beginning the road of what's to come...

Some of these cities may wanna look to LA of 35-40 years to gauge what the bear future could look like for them,abd if they get ahead of it we can possibly prevent some of the pitfalls that happened in Black Los Angeles. Otherwise we're already seeing history repeat itself in many of these cities----->it just happened in LA first...

Utah is like living in the twilight zone you gotta be a weirdo that likes your Cousin be attracted to that place.

Do they even know what clubs are over there?

yeah they had clubs there, I really just enjoyed walking the downtown, drove thru some neighborhoods downtown, kicked it at a park, etc. Trust me bro, I wouldn't lie to you, Salt Lake City is among the more naturally beautiful cities I've seen in this country. Just gorgeous. And despite the city being only 2.7% black, you notice a really solid amount of black professionals downtown...

It's surprising because that visual would lead you to believe SLC is blacker than it is. And I'm not saying the streets if downtown were full of us, because they aren't, but you see enough black folk that it isn't like it's hard to find black people. It was really interesting...

It isn't like Boise where I've spent 16 days here and from the moment I git off the plane to the moment I board in about an hour and a half, I've seen 41 black people here. You FEEL like you're in a city thats only 1.8% black in Boise, it's that rare to see another black face. That's basically just 2½ black people per day I've seen while out here...

Based off visibility in Salt Lake I'd guess, if I didn't know better, that it was around 5% black like San Francisco; the streets of SLC didn't "feel" any less black than racist ass SF...

 

[invalid]

Chicago 779,304

Los Angeles 323,341

Damn, so there were twice as many GDs and BDs in Chicago than Crips and Bloods in LA?

 

[UberEatsDriver]

We can agree to disagree. Because New York and Chicago and The District and Atlanta are all cities where they are seeing rapid declines in black population and watching historically black answers transform...

The saving grace for places like Atlanta and Washington, and NY and Chi to lesser extents, are the massive black suburban populations that Los Angeles doesn't have to the same degree...

You're educated Dora, I KNOW that you know there's a litany of journalism and literature out there on the changing black demographics, including decline, in all of those cities you just mentioned...

I don't think it changes that these places are meccas though. And I think because you're from California, your emotional investment in California is larger so your criticism and the lens you view California thru is harsher; the limitations of Black California aren't exclusive to California and for the most part, the worst of the black decline and resulting casualties (smaller political influence, black class issues, etc) are over in Los Angeles, while many cities, including the ones you named, are just beginning the road of what's to come...

Some of these cities may wanna look to LA of 35-40 years to gauge what the bear future could look like for them,abd if they get ahead of it we can possibly prevent some of the pitfalls that happened in Black Los Angeles. Otherwise we're already seeing history repeat itself in many of these cities----->it just happened in LA first...



yeah they had clubs there, I really just enjoyed walking the downtown, drove thru some neighborhoods downtown, kicked it at a park, etc. Trust me bro, I wouldn't lie to you, Salt Lake City is among the more naturally beautiful cities I've seen in this country. Just gorgeous. And despite the city being only 2.7% black, you notice a really solid amount of black professionals downtown...

It's surprising because that visual would lead you to believe SLC is blacker than it is. And I'm not saying the streets if downtown were full of us, because they aren't, but you see enough black folk that it isn't like it's hard to find black people. It was really interesting...

It isn't like Boise where I've spent 16 days here and from the moment I git off the plane to the moment I board in about an hour and a half, I've seen 41 black people here. You FEEL like you're in a city thats only 1.8% black in Boise, it's that rare to see another black face. That's basically just 2½ black people per day I've seen while out here...

Based off visibility in Salt Lake I'd guess, if I didn't know better, that it was around 5% black like San Francisco; the streets of SLC didn't "feel" any less black than racist ass SF...

I believe that. Utah looks beautiful

 

[murksiderock]

Damn, so there were twice as many GDs and BDs in Chicago than Crips and Bloods in LA?

Wasn't that already known?

 

[Black Magisterialness]

I still think the numbers of black people in America are underreported. We still don't take the census like we should. And there's still a large population of mixed race people that identify as black.

Every time these numbers come about I always think there's at least a 4%-7% margin for error. I'm of the belief that America has at least 17%-18% black people. And that number is growing. It just that we don't self-report.

 

[invalid]

Wasn't that already known?

I always thought they had larger numbers for some reason.

 

[murksiderock]

I still think the numbers of black people in America are underreported. We still don't take the census like we should. And there's still a large population of mixed race people that identify as black.

Every time these numbers come about I always think there's at least a 4%-7% margin for error. I'm of the belief that America has at least 17%-18% black people. And that number is growing. It just that we don't self-report.

If you think we are 17% of the population means you think there's a variance of roughly 16 million Black Americans who aren't reporting, which is huge and would be about 27.6% of a hypothetical ~56.4 million Black American population...

I just don't think it's realistic that over a quarter of us as a community aren't reporting or aren't reporting accurately. We aren't that negligent...

There are a number of black people who didn't report or didn't accurately identify, and I also think there's some judicial prejudice and fudging of the numbers, bit I don't think that amounts to more than maybe, 2 million people? Add in those two million and that takes is from about 12.3% as stated to 12.9%; it isn't far fetched to me to double that number but I don't at all think we are anywhere near non-reporting or misidentifying black people reaching double digits (10 million)...

 

[Cadillac]

population dont mean shyt if you aint built a powerful culture

so all this is just that population

Jackson MIss. is 82% black and no one no matter how much they cap aint ever called it a "Black Mecca"

 

[Cadillac]

Huntsville Alabama has more black population than a lot of places on this list and it isn't near the size of a lot of them

and hardly do any people call yall the black mecca, no one even cares what you nikkas do down there

 

[DatNkkaCutty]

And you goofy ass nkkas, talkin bout you can't get no cheeks.

All those black women, within those numbers, in all these cities.


Lists like these make me more angry than, anything. All these women, and my folks, I'll never get to see.

 

[Sleepy Floyd]

Don't worry about % numbers. It's very misleading. Drawing the borders of a city slightly different can change the black percentage from 20% to 50% or 5%.

If the borders of Chicago went from 43rd Street south to Harvey Illinois it would likely be the blackest city in North America

 

[Cadillac]

U have links? Also, there’s nothing like growing up black in the northeast… biased, but we’re just different

so different?

yet you nikkas are leaving that precious environment that bred you like a MF. NE blacks are leaving that region more than any other region.

but yall and that region are "different" right?