The 10 Cities In The United States With The Largest Black Population For 2025


The most African American cities in the United States are Jackson, MS and Detroit, MI for 2025 based on Saturday Night Science.

Most African American cities in the United States research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to research the cities with the highest percentage of black residents for 2025. The data comes from the American Community Survey 2019-2023 vintage, which breaks down race by origin.

  • The city with the highest percentage of African Americans is Jackson, MS. 81.52% of people in Jackson, MS are black.

  • The city with the lowest percentage of African Americans is Brownsville, TX. 0.26% of people in Brownsville, TX are black.

  • The city with the most African Americans is New York, NY. 1,773,772 people in New York, NY are black.

  • The city with the fewest African Americans is East Los Angeles, CA. 416 people in East Los Angeles, CA are black.

  • The United States has 39,981,609 African Americans and is 12.03% black.

Most African American Cities In The United States Map


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


What city would you guess has the largest African American population?

For us, we immediately figured it’d have to be somewhere in the South — while it’s trending away from it, the majority of the African American population in America lives in the South.

And we figured it HAS to be a BIG city, right? Seems like that would have a better chance than a smaller city of being more diverse.

Well, take a second for you to guess.

Ok, cool, well, we were half right — it’s in the South but not all that big.

The city with the largest percentage of African Americans? Jackson, MS.

Our intuition served us pretty well with one big old glaring exception at the top — Detroit. Detroit has been a predominately African American city for years. It’s an economic hub in the Midwest for African Americans.

Read on to see how we calculated the most African American cities in America based on the most recent Census data.

For more reading, check out:

The 10 Most African American Cities In The United States For 2025

Jackson, MS

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 149,827
Percent African American: 81.5%
Percent African American 2010: 78.0%
Percent Change: -10.8%
More on Jackson: Data

So here we go all the way to our blackest city in America, Jackson Mississippi. The capital of Mississippi has a black population that is 81.52%. Jackson is also growing its African American population. Ten years ago, this city was 78% black.

Now, let’s compare Jackson Mississippi to Jackson, Wyoming, the little city we talked about earlier. There are 137,000 African Americans in Jackson Mississippi, and only 38 black Americans in Jackson Wyoming.

Like all of the other cities in our list, Jackson has a storied history within the African American community. Civil rights leader Charles Evers is from Jackson. Musician Bo Diddley is from Jackson. BB King, James Earl Jones and Jerry Rice is too.

Review Of Jackson by HomeSnacks User

I love Jackson, MS I was born and raised here. I love how you can’t even walk down the streets because Jamal or Tyrone might have had a bad day and decide he wants to end your life. I also like all of the homeless harassing me for money and urinating in front of my family and I. The city government is also a haram of idiots pretending to be competent leaders who can’t even maintain roads and water lines. I also love how you can’t even go to a decently priced restaurant without hearing Tyrone and Shanequa having a screaming match or just screaming for fun. If you have to move here I advise a trip to a gun store. It’s a great place, everyone should move here.

My favorite place is when I leave on vacation to somewhere out side of the ghetto

Review Jackson

Detroit, MI

Source: Wikipedia User User:AE at Quicken Loans | CC BY-SA 1.0
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 636,644
Percent African American: 76.4%
Percent African American 2010: 82.4%
Percent Change: -22.2%
More on Detroit: Data

Oh man we gotta haul this time. We just got word that our second blackest city in America is Detroit.. Detroit has several interesting facts. First, it’s 76.42% black, which is actually -22.25% less black than it was ten years ago. Additionally, it’s the only city north of the Mason Dixon line to be on this list. Lastly, Detroit has by far the biggest overall number of black Americans of any other city at 750,000.

Detroit has Motown Records, which was a predominately African American music label in the 60s. Not too far away from Detroit is Battle Creek, Michigan, home to many large cereal factories.

The black population is 13 times more likely to buy sugary cereals than any other race.

Review Of Detroit by HomeSnacks User

Despite the downfalls the city has/is facing it is still a place full of culture and history. I LOVE the fact that they are so sports orientated. I grew up being a huge fan of sports and there is no bigger sports town than Detroit. Redwings, Pistons, Tigers and Lions are all supported with large amounts of pride!

Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park, the new football and hockey arenas. The hockeytown cafe all the casinos and the theater. There is so much history and so much pride in the historical places still!

Review Detroit

Birmingham, AL

Source: Flickr User argusfoto | CC BY-ND 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 199,322
Percent African American: 66.9%
Percent African American 2010: 73.8%
Percent Change: -16.4%
More on Birmingham: Data

We’re gonna hop back in the car as we take a stroll to our next blackest city in America, Birmingham, Alabama. In Birmingham, the black population is 66.94%, which is a little lower than it was just 10 years ago.

There were a lot of civil rights protests here in the early 60s, which drew the attention of the national media. A ton of black Americans were arrested while standing up for their rights, including Martin Luther King Jr. You can bet if there was a Twitter back then, it would’ve blown up. That’s because black people use Twitter more than any other race.

Review Of Birmingham by Snow_Mane

I live in Birmingham and my house isn’t bad at all !,!,!,

Review Birmingham

Montgomery, AL

Source: Wikipedia User User:TantalumTelluride | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 198,440
Percent African American: 62.8%
Percent African American 2010: 55.4%
Percent Change: 9.8%
More on Montgomery: Data

Moving on, good news again – we’re not gonna have to drive very far at all to get to our next blackest city in the USA, Montgomery, Alabama. Here in Montgomery, the black population is 62.77%. Montgomery also has a 9.82% greater African American population now than it did just 10 years ago.

The National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture is in Montgomery, that’s cool. And of course, Montgomery is home to the Montgomery bus boycott back in 1956. It was started by Rosa Parks, who refused to go to the back of the bus. The bus boycott drew a lot of attention, and lasted an entire year. As such, eventually, it helped get the buses desegregated.

Memphis, TN

Source: Wikipedia User Thomas R Machnitzki | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 629,063
Percent African American: 62.7%
Percent African American 2010: 62.4%
Percent Change: -3.5%
More on Memphis: Data

Moving on, we’re going to head up to our next blackest city in America, Memphis.

Here in Memphis, the black population is 62.68%, which is slightly higher than it was 10 years ago. Additionally, Memphis has the second most black Americans of any other US city, at more than 400,000.

Memphis is home to the place where Dr Martin Luther King was filled. It was one of the worst days in American history. The National Civil Rights Museum is also here. That’s a very important place.

Review Of Memphis by Suntan Superman

I live in memphis and beem here my whole life. Not all of the people of memphis drink, smoke, and or have a gun

Review Memphis

Miami Gardens, FL

Source: Wikipedia User Pietro | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 111,264
Percent African American: 61.7%
Percent African American 2010: 74.3%
Percent Change: -12.6%
More on Miami Gardens: Data

We’re going to remain in the south as we come to our sixth blackest city in America, Miami Gardens. This is a suburb of Miami. Here in Miami Gardens, the black population is 61.67%, which is actually -12.58% less than it was 10 years ago. Additionally, Miami Gardens is about 25% Latino – mostly Cuban and Dominican.

So you can expect to hear a lot of cuban music and rap here. Why rap? Because it’s one of the most popular musical styles of black Americans. What famous black rappers are from Florida? Well, there’s Flo Rida to start. There’s also T-Pain, Mace, and Lil Pump.

Baltimore, MD

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 577,193
Percent African American: 59.3%
Percent African American 2010: 64.0%
Percent Change: -13.8%
More on Baltimore: Data

Alright, so it’s time to pile into the car and drive pretty far this time. It took a while, but here we are, pulling into Baltimore.

As the seventh blackest city in America, Baltimore is 59.29% black. Also interesting of note is that about 1,000 more black Americans leave Baltimore than come in every year. Where are they moving? Interesting.

Review Of Baltimore by Aye We lit

I live in Baltimore and it’s not as bad as you think

Review Baltimore

Shreveport, LA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 183,483
Percent African American: 56.0%
Percent African American 2010: 53.7%
Percent Change: -3.5%
More on Shreveport: Data

Moving on, we’re going to visit our next blackest city in America. Let’s drive to the eighth most african american city in America, Shreveport, Louisiana. Here in Shreveport, the black population is 56.0%, only slightly higher than in Augusta. That is -3.52% lower than it was only ten years ago. There are a handful of cities in Louisiana that rank high on this list.

Makes sense, since Louisiana is the second blackest state in the US, with a 32% African American population.

Review Of Shreveport by Pam BB

I live in Shreveport,Louisiana. The past few years Shreveport has attained the nickname, The Ratchet City. I’m sorry to say that ratchet pretty much says it all. But I love Louisiana. It’s really a great state. The people here are down to earth good folks. They will welcome a stranger and feed you the best food you’ve ever had! It’s hard to find better food anywhere than Louisiana. If you love jazz, like I do, New Orleans is the place to be. But yes, Shreveport is not the city I grew up in. I’ve been here 61 years and it is sad to see how things have changed. It’s really strange how even through the ugliness the hearts of the people are still filled with love.

Review Shreveport

Source: Public Domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 201,504
Percent African American: 55.8%
Percent African American 2010: 53.8%
Percent Change: 8.0%
More on Augusta-Richmond County Consolidated Government (Balance): Data

We finish our tour of the blackest cities in America in Augusta, Georgia. Now, seeing as Georgia is the third blackest state, this isn’t a surprise. In Augusta, the black population is 55.79%. That’s 8.02% higher than it was in 2010.

Let’s be real – Georgia is a very black state. Overall, 31% people who live in the state are black. Augusta is the blackest city in Atlanta, but Savannah – at 54% and Atlanta at 52% – are the 12th and 13th blackest cities. So, Georgia has three of the 13 blackest cities.

To put that into perspective, America’s least black city in America is Jackson, Wyoming, which is .4% black. There are 9,500 people in Jackson, which means there are only 38 African Americans in this entire place.

New Orleans, LA

Source: Flickr User szeke | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 376,035
Percent African American: 54.7%
Percent African American 2010: 59.4%
Percent Change: 17.2%
More on New Orleans: Data

Our next blackest state in America, New Orleans has an african american population of 54.7%. That’s actually slightly lower than it was 10 years ago, despite the fact that 50,000 blacks moved to New Orleans in the last decade. That means New Orleans is growing fast, and it’s attracting many different races.

Now, New Orleans definitely has a long and storied black history. New Orleans is home to jazz music, which was invented by the black community. The food here is also heavily influenced by the black population. Gumbo was brought to America from West Africa. Same goes for religion and clothing. In fact, when the slaves came to New Orleans a long time ago, all of the various tribes and cultural backgrounds melted into one big mix of different African cultures.

What about dance? Popular black dance styles are tap dance, the cakewalk, the charleston, the jitterbug, popping, locking, the worm, the electric slide.

Review Of New Orleans by HomeSnacks User

Visit the French Quarter and then the St. Louis Cathedral. Visit the Bon Ton Cafe for dinner. I also recommend visiting the Natchez river boat and take a dinner cruise. Make sure to get a grenade in the french quarter. Also visit the famous cafe du Monde and get a beignet. If you are interested take in a s*x show or other nighttime activities in the old french quarter. A haunted walk or visit to an old cemetery is also recommended. The old french market is another fun place to see for gift and souvenirs.

The friendliness and the wonderful accents of all the people. The cajun food is awesome so please get some gumbo. Also enjoy the wonderful drinks. Take in the wonderful music that you’ll find anywhere. This is America’s coolest city.

Review New Orleans

Methodology: How We Determined The Most African American Large Cities in The US

When we analyze what it’s like to live in a city in the US, we use Saturday Night Science to compare statistics. In particular, we can look to the recently released 2019-2023 American Community Survey for a detailed breakdown of race by city.

Specifically, we looked at table B03002 which has the breakdown of people by Hispanic/latino and race.

Limiting our analysis to only cities greater than 100,000 people, we looked at the percentage of the population of each city that identified as non-Hispanic/Latino, black.

We then ranked each city from 1 to 273 in terms of that percentage with the city having the highest overall percentage being named the “City In America with the Largest African American population” — Jackson, MS. We updated this article for 2025. This article is our tenth time ranking the cities in America with the highest African American population.

The “least African American” city according to the data? That would be Brownsville, TX which is only 0.26 African American as of the latest data.

Summary: The Most African American Big Cities in America

Based on recent trends, the South might not continue to dominate this list in the years to come — well, maybe decades — as more Northern and Western cities continue attracting large swaths of the black population.

The cities in the United States with the highest African American population are Jackson, MS, Detroit, MI, Birmingham, AL, Montgomery, AL, Memphis, TN, Miami Gardens, FL, Baltimore, MD, Shreveport, LA, Augusta-Richmond County Consolidated Government (Balance), GA, and New Orleans, LA.

But until then, we’ll keep seeing Southern cities at the top of the list.

And for those playing at home, here’s a look at the least African American cities in America:

  1. Brownsville, TX
  2. East Los Angeles, CA
  3. Laredo, TX

For more reading, check out:

African American Population By City In America

Rank City Population Black Population % Black
1 Jackson, MS 149,827 122,141 81.5%
2 Detroit, MI 636,644 486,537 76.4%
3 Birmingham, AL 199,322 133,420 66.9%
4 Montgomery, AL 198,440 124,570 62.8%
5 Memphis, TN 629,063 394,321 62.7%
6 Miami Gardens, FL 111,264 68,621 61.7%
7 Baltimore, MD 577,193 342,194 59.3%
8 Shreveport, LA 183,483 102,748 56.0%
9 Augusta-Richmond County Consolidated Government (Balance), GA 201,504 112,428 55.8%
10 New Orleans, LA 376,035 205,700 54.7%
11 Mobile, AL 185,097 97,626 52.7%
12 Savannah, GA 147,546 75,359 51.1%
13 Baton Rouge, LA 223,699 113,945 50.9%
14 Hampton, VA 137,334 65,782 47.9%
15 Atlanta, GA 499,287 231,361 46.3%
16 Cleveland, OH 367,523 169,138 46.0%
17 Columbus, GA 204,383 93,760 45.9%
18 Newark, NJ 307,188 139,641 45.5%
19 Beaumont, TX 113,710 50,774 44.6%
20 Miramar, FL 135,986 59,166 43.5%
21 St. Louis, MO 293,109 125,617 42.9%
22 Washington, DC 672,079 285,926 42.5%
23 Richmond, VA 227,595 94,783 41.6%
24 Greensboro, NC 298,564 124,136 41.6%
25 Fayetteville, NC 209,692 86,071 41.0%
26 Newport News, VA 184,774 74,644 40.4%
27 Little Rock, AR 202,739 79,860 39.4%
28 Norfolk, VA 235,037 91,781 39.0%
29 Columbia, SC 138,019 53,818 39.0%
30 Inglewood, CA 105,575 41,036 38.9%
31 Philadelphia, PA 1,582,432 614,807 38.9%
32 Cincinnati, OH 309,595 119,119 38.5%
33 Milwaukee, WI 569,756 216,874 38.1%
34 Dayton, OH 136,741 51,729 37.8%
35 Rochester, NY 209,720 74,933 35.7%
36 Tallahassee, FL 199,696 70,552 35.3%
37 Killeen, TX 156,144 54,251 34.7%
38 Durham, NC 288,465 98,568 34.2%
39 Hartford, CT 119,970 40,490 33.8%
40 Charlotte, NC 886,283 298,920 33.7%
41 High Point, NC 115,263 37,118 32.2%
42 Buffalo, NY 276,397 87,901 31.8%
43 Winston-Salem, NC 250,887 79,667 31.8%
44 Jacksonville, FL 961,739 285,137 29.6%
45 Huntsville, AL 218,814 64,432 29.4%
46 Akron, OH 189,526 55,219 29.1%
47 New Haven, CT 132,893 38,597 29.0%
48 Columbus, OH 906,480 260,957 28.8%
49 Chesapeake, VA 251,153 71,677 28.5%
50 Lafayette, LA 121,537 34,649 28.5%
51 Fort Lauderdale, FL 183,032 52,164 28.5%
52 Chattanooga, TN 182,832 51,870 28.4%
53 Toledo, OH 268,461 75,896 28.3%
54 Chicago, IL 2,707,648 757,206 28.0%
55 Indianapolis, IN 882,043 245,228 27.8%
56 Pompano Beach, FL 112,212 30,931 27.6%
57 Raleigh, NC 470,763 126,934 27.0%
58 Athens-Clarke County Unified Government (Balance), GA 126,987 33,114 26.1%
59 Syracuse, NY 146,211 37,726 25.8%
60 Peoria, IL 112,126 28,928 25.8%
61 Kansas City, MO 508,233 129,468 25.5%
62 Mesquite, TX 148,848 36,042 24.2%
63 South Bend, IN 102,866 24,806 24.1%
64 Grand Prairie, TX 198,564 47,486 23.9%
65 Waterbury, CT 114,356 27,144 23.7%
66 Coral Springs, FL 133,962 31,535 23.5%
67 Dallas, TX 1,299,553 304,323 23.4%
68 Louisville/jefferson County Metro Government (Balance), KY 627,210 146,602 23.4%
69 Paterson, NJ 157,660 36,775 23.3%
70 Lansing, MI 112,546 25,497 22.6%
71 Houston, TX 2,300,419 517,798 22.5%
72 Clarksville, TN 171,897 38,590 22.4%
73 Pittsburgh, PA 303,620 67,779 22.3%
74 Arlington, TX 394,769 86,497 21.9%
75 Orlando, FL 311,732 67,553 21.7%
76 North Las Vegas, NV 270,773 57,392 21.2%
77 Rockford, IL 147,649 31,227 21.1%
78 Gainesville, FL 143,611 30,267 21.1%
79 Lancaster, CA 170,013 35,707 21.0%
80 New York, NY 8,516,202 1,773,772 20.8%
81 Warren, MI 138,128 28,721 20.8%
82 Alexandria, VA 156,788 32,396 20.7%
83 Oakland, CA 438,072 89,973 20.5%
84 Pembroke Pines, FL 170,557 34,919 20.5%
85 Boston, MA 663,972 134,494 20.3%
86 Tampa, FL 393,389 79,082 20.1%
87 Kansas City, KS 154,776 30,913 20.0%
88 Waco, TX 141,925 28,213 19.9%
89 Jersey City, NJ 289,691 57,448 19.8%
90 Springfield, IL 113,714 22,198 19.5%
91 Bridgeport, CT 148,012 28,859 19.5%
92 Stamford, CT 135,806 26,163 19.3%
93 St. Petersburg, FL 260,646 50,042 19.2%
94 Fort Worth, TX 941,311 180,442 19.2%
95 Virginia Beach, VA 457,066 83,839 18.3%
96 Port St. Lucie, FL 220,453 40,102 18.2%
97 Minneapolis, MN 426,845 77,104 18.1%
98 Springfield, MA 154,751 27,345 17.7%
99 Grand Rapids, MI 197,768 34,470 17.4%
100 Palm Bay, FL 125,273 21,833 17.4%

African American Places By State

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

3 thoughts on “The 10 Cities In The United States With The Largest Black Population For 2025

  1. Thank you for this interesting information.

    I have one suggestion, if I may.
    The beginning of your article/information you ask a question in a misleading way, at best, and incorrectly, at worst.

    This is your articles headline and title:
    “These Are The 10 Cities In America With The Largest Black Population For 2019

    “We used science and data to determine which cities in America have the largest African American population.”

    Then, you ask the readers this question:
    “What city would you guess has the largest African American population?”

    Scientifically speaking, mathematically speaking, and logically speaking, there is a major difference and distinction between asking, “What city has the LARGEST A. American population?”, vs ,”What city’s population has the greatest percentage of A. American population?”

    Thus, the way the initial question was asked, even a person with decent knowledge of the American population will be thrown way off the track as to the actual answer you are looking for.

    Your answer, and your data chart do not show which cities have the largest or greatest A. American population. Your data chart shows which cities have the greatest percentage of a city’s population, who are A. American.

    So, the correct answer to your actual question is New York City, NY with a
    black/A. American population of over 2 million people.

    In stark contrast, even though Jackson, MS has the greatest percentage of it’s population being black/A. Americans, the total black/A. American population is almost 139,000. And that is far less than over 2 million in NYC.

    BTW, your question and answer is commonly confused, as is evidenced on multiple websites that also incorrectly conflate, “highest/greatest percentage”, vs, “largest number”.

  2. Thank you Tome. This issue is so much more complicated than the author would suggest. I appreciate your observations. But even then, the issue of the metropolitan area and populations further complicate the issue. As the metro area around our urban city cores typically represent white and mobile Americans who may work in and support the city center but chose not live there.

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