Recent news stories from 2023 and 2024 continue to discuss cities with high percentages of Black residents, in spite of continued noxiousness from the current administration. Jackson, Mississippi, for example, is regularly cited as the “Blackest city” in the USA, with over 80% Black population, and it is still the capital city of Mississippi.
Other cities regularly listed with high Black populations, but not reaching 90 percent, include:
Detroit, Michigan (76.63 percent)
East Orange, New Jersey (79.96 percent)
Lauderhill, Florida (79.91 percent)
Mostly occurring outside the gaze of the two Trump administrations, especially the second one we are currently living through, there has been a quiet, steady rise in the number of Black majority population cities in the US. The current number, according to American newspapers, is approximately 1, 262 Black-majority cities, including those well-known, like Jackson, Mississippi, and Detroit, Michigan to lesser known ones, like East Cleveland, Ohio and Wilkinsburg, Penn.
A list of the ten best known Black majority areas 5 years ago (according to The Brookings Institute Media Office, 2020), included:
Miami Gardens, Florida— Total
Population: 110,881 African Americans: 68,121
other— Percentage Black: 61.44 percent
Memphis, Tennessee— Total Population:
628,118 African Americans: 398,824 other—
Percentage Black: 63.50 percent
Montgomery, Alabama— Total Population:
198,659 African Americans: 126,268 other—
Percentage Black: 63.56 percent
Southfield, Michigan— Total Population:
75,901 African Americans: 48,391 other—
Percentage Black: 63.76 percent
Birmingham, Alabama— Total Population:
196,410 African Americans: 139,691 other—
Percentage Black 71.12 percent.
Albany, Georgia— Total Population: 67,146
African Americans: 49,281 other— Percentage:
73.39 percent Black.
Detroit, Michigan— Total Population:
632,589 African Americans: 484,779 other—
Percentage: 76.63 percent Black.
Lauderhill, Florida— Total Population:
73,461 African Americans: 58,704 other—
Percentage: 79.91 percent Black.
East Orange, New Jersey— Total Population:
68,893 African Americans: 55,087 other—
Percentage: 79.96 percent Black.
Jackson, Mississippi— Total Population:
149,813 African Americans: 122,612 other—
Percentage: 81.84 percent Black.
And in 2025, according to an analysis by Stacey M. Brown for the Washington Informer, the top ten on that list looked like:
South Fulton, Georgia, Total Population:
107,436, Percentage Black: 93.26 percent
Jackson, Mississippi, Total Population:
153,701, Percentage Black: 80.50 percent
Detroit, Michigan: Total Population:
639,111, Percentage Black: 80.38 percent
Birmingham, Alabama: Total Population:
200,733: Percentage Black: 69.82 percent
Miami Gardens, Florida: Total Population:
111,640: Percentage Black: 66.97 percent
Memphis, Tennessee: Total Population:
633,104: Percentage Black: 63.34 percent
Montgomery, Alabama: Total Population:
200,603: Percentage Black: 61.91 percent
Baltimore, Maryland: Total Population:
585,708: Percentage Black: 60.42 percent
Augusta, Georgia: Total Population: 202,081:
Percentage Black: 58.61 percent
Shreveport, Louisiana: Total Population:
187,593: Percentage Black: 57.82 percent
Is life better for Black folks in Black-population dominated cities and towns? Accurate answers to that question definitely depend on who you ask in those places, but one thing is apparent: the number of these municipalities is growing and not slowing down. In the 1970 census, there were at least 460 Black majority urban areas identified, at least 1,148 by the 2010 census, and up to the current 1,262 beyond the 2020 census.
With these places often beset by white flight and home devaluation, which totals $156 billion in losses nationally, life and administration remain serious challenges, but progress has not slowed down. Most Black-majority cities have assets worth building upon, investing in, and fighting for, including the Brookings-Gallup analysis statistic that Black-majority neighborhoods and cities currently represent over $609 billion in owner-occupied housing assets, they annually operate and maintain approximately 10,000 public schools, and they house over 3 million businesses.
That’s not chump change. Black-majority cities are rising amid a national conversation surrounding whether they can improve and develop while retaining their black majorities in Trumpland. And the beat goes on. Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
