The Black population in the United States reached 49.2 million people in 2024, according to the latest data available in June 2026 from a Pew Research Center analysis of the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey. This represents a 36% increase from the 36.2 million recorded in 2000.
A closer look at the county level reveals distinct geographic patterns. The Black population remains highly concentrated throughout the American South, major metropolitan hubs, and rapidly expanding Sunbelt suburbs. Conversely, vast stretches of the Mountain West, the Great Plains, and the northern interior contain counties with exceptionally small Black populations.
The broader national and state trends are detailed in the Pew Research Center’s 2026 update, which utilizes the 2024 ACS data.
For local data, the Census Bureau released its Vintage 2024 county population estimates release in June 2025, providing the most recent county-by-county demographic profiles.
While those estimates offer a current look, the official 2020 Census remains the most reliable baseline for exact county-level racial rankings, as the Vintage 2024 series relies on population modeling and specific modified-race methodologies.
2026 Snapshot
| Total US Black population | 49.2 million in 2024 |
| Growth since 2000 | Up 36% |
| Largest state Black population | Texas, about 4.3 million |
| Next largest states | Florida, about 4.0 million; Georgia, about 3.7 million |
| Largest Black metro population | New York City metro, about 3.9 million |
| Next largest metro areas | Atlanta, 2.4 million; Washington, D.C., 1.8 million; Chicago, 1.7 million |
| Highest Black share among large Black metro areas | Atlanta, 37% |
| Median age | 33.7 years |
| Black adults with at least a bachelor’s degree | 27.7% |
| Median annual household income | $57,200 |
The national count has grown, but growth is not evenly spread. Texas, Florida and Georgia added the largest number of Black residents between 2010 and 2024. Utah, Arizona, Minnesota and Nevada recorded the fastest percentage growth among states that already had at least 25,000 Black residents in 2010.
We are also tracking broad population change in US,and state-level population decline.
Black Population Growth From 1790 To 2024
Historical comparisons need caution because Census race categories changed over time.
Before 2000, people were generally not able to select more than one race.
Since 2000, multiracial identification has changed how many Americans are counted in “alone or in combination” race categories.
For that reason, the table below separates older decennial race counts from the modern inclusive Black population count used by Pew.
| Year | Black Population | Share Of U.S. Population | What The Number Represents |
| 1790 | 757,208 | 19.3% | First U.S. Census count under the race categories used at the time |
| 1860 | 4,441,830 | 14.1% | Last Census before emancipation; about 3.95 million Black people were enslaved |
| 1870 | 4,880,009 | 12.7% | First Census after the Civil War |
| 1910 | 9,827,763 | 10.7% | Start of the Great Migration era |
| 1930 | 11.9 million | 9.7% | Black share reached one of its lowest Census levels |
| 1970 | 22.6 million | 11.1% | End of the main Great Migration period |
| 2000 | 36.2 million | Modern Pew benchmark | Start of the modern comparison period used by Pew |
| 2020 | 41.1 million Black alone | 12.4% Black alone | Decennial Census Black alone count, separate from “alone or in combination” counts |
| 2024 | 49.2 million total Black population | Pew 2026 ACS benchmark | Includes single-race non-Hispanic Black, multiracial non-Hispanic Black and Black Hispanic residents |
The older historical count and the modern inclusive count should not be treated as identical measures. The modern total includes people who identify as Black in combination with other racial or ethnic identities, a group that has grown quickly since 2000.
Also Read: Black-Owned Businesses in the US.
How The Black Population Is Changing In 2026?
The 2026 Pew update shows three major changes: growth in the total Black population, faster growth among multiracial and Hispanic Black Americans, and a continuing shift toward the South and fast-growing metro areas.
| Trend | Latest Data Point | Why It Is Important |
| Total Black population growth | 49.2 million in 2024, up 36% since 2000 | The Black population continues to reach new highs |
| Multiracial Black growth | Up 295% since 2000 | Race reporting and family composition are changing the Black population profile |
| Black Hispanic growth | Up 232% since 2000 | The Black population is becoming more ethnically diverse |
| Fastest-growing states | Utah, Arizona, Minnesota and Nevada from 2010 to 2024 | Growth is no longer limited to historically large Black population states |
| Largest numerical gains | Texas, Florida and Georgia from 2010 to 2024 | Black population growth is concentrated in large Sunbelt states |
| Metro shift | Dallas up 52% and Houston up 43% from 2010 to 2024 | Texas metro areas are central to the newer Black migration pattern |
| Chicago decline | Chicago metro Black population down 3% from 2010 to 2024 | Older Great Migration destinations have not all kept growing |
The growth pattern is especially visible in Texas and Georgia. NCH Stats has separate state population guides for Texas population trends and Georgia population trends, both of which help explain why Sunbelt growth now matters so much for Black population geography.
US Counties with Majority Black Populations
The table below uses data from the 2020 Census because it is the last complete count of every county. The “Black %” column includes everyone who identified as Black alone or in combination with another race.
The “Black Alone %” column only counts people who checked Black alone. The two numbers show different parts of the same population count.
Rank
County Or Area
State
Black %
Black Alone %
Total Population
Black Population
1
Claiborne County
Mississippi
88.60%
87.45%
9,135
8,094
2
Jefferson County
Mississippi
86.72%
85.28%
7,260
6,296
3
Holmes County
Mississippi
85.23%
83.86%
17,000
14,489
4
Greene County
Alabama
82.20%
80.80%
7,730
6,354
5
Macon County
Alabama
80.85%
79.05%
19,532
15,792
6
Humphreys County
Mississippi
80.39%
78.48%
7,785
6,258
7
Tunica County
Mississippi
78.36%
77.27%
9,782
7,665
8
Coahoma County
Mississippi
77.56%
76.12%
21,390
16,590
9
Petersburg City
Virginia
77.19%
74.16%
33,458
25,826
10
Leflore County
Mississippi
75.10%
73.73%
28,339
21,283
11
Quitman County
Mississippi
75.08%
73.61%
6,176
4,637
12
Sumter County
Alabama
73.85%
72.88%
12,345
9,117
13
Clayton County
Georgia
72.70%
69.89%
297,595
216,351
14
Washington County
Mississippi
72.57%
71.33%
44,922
32,601
15
Sharkey County
Mississippi
72.34%
70.76%
3,800
2,749
16
Bullock County
Alabama
72.34%
71.41%
10,357
7,492
17
Noxubee County
Mississippi
72.19%
70.27%
10,285
7,425
18
Allendale County
South Carolina
71.76%
70.36%
8,039
5,769
19
Wilcox County
Alabama
71.68%
70.59%
10,600
7,598
20
Dougherty County
Georgia
71.64%
69.92%
85,790
61,457
21
Dallas County
Alabama
71.49%
69.94%
38,462
27,497
22
Lowndes County
Alabama
71.15%
69.75%
10,311
7,336
23
Perry County
Alabama
71.08%
69.75%
8,511
6,050
24
Sunflower County
Mississippi
71.03%
69.94%
25,971
18,448
25
Hinds County
Mississippi
70.86%
69.43%
227,742
161,374
Mississippi has the highest concentrations on the list. Claiborne, Jefferson, and Holmes counties each recorded a Black population above 85% when counting people who identify as Black alone or in combination with another race. Alabama is right behind them, with Greene, Macon, Bullock, Wilcox, Dallas, Lowndes, and Perry counties all sitting near the top of the rankings.
The numbers show two completely different types of counties. Most of these majority-Black areas in Mississippi and Alabama are rural places with small total populations. Clayton County, Georgia, is the big exception. It is a large suburb in the Atlanta metro area that had more than 216,000 Black residents in the 2020 Census. Hinds County, Mississippi, also stands out because it includes the state capital of Jackson, making its population much larger than the rural Delta counties.
History Behind the Southern Black Belt
The high concentration of majority-Black counties across the South is tied directly to the history of slavery, plantation farming, and the historic region known as the Black Belt. It also reflects decades of Jim Crow laws, sharecropping, migration patterns, and modern suburban development.
The term “Black Belt” originally described a long strip of dark, rich soil running through the American South.
Over time, the phrase came to mean counties with high percentages of Black residents because the cotton plantation economy depended heavily on forced labor in those exact areas.
Many of these counties remain majority-Black today, particularly in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana.
While the geography remains similar, population trends have shifted. Many rural counties in the Mississippi Delta and the broader Black Belt have steadily lost residents over the decades. Meanwhile, Black populations have grown rapidly in major Southern metro areas, including Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Washington, D.C.
Large Metro Areas With The Most Black Residents
The largest Black communities are not only in majority-Black counties. Most Black Americans live in metro areas where the total population is racially mixed and spread through cities and suburbs.
| Metro Area | Black Population In 2024 | What Stands Out |
| New York City | About 3.9 million | Largest Black metro population in the country |
| Atlanta | About 2.4 million | Highest Black share, 37%, among metro areas with at least 1 million Black residents |
| Washington, D.C. | About 1.8 million | Longstanding political, professional and suburban Black population center |
| Chicago | About 1.7 million | Historic Great Migration destination, but Black population declined 3% from 2010 to 2024 |
| Dallas | Large and fast-growing | Black population rose 52% from 2010 to 2024 |
| Houston | Large and fast-growing | Black population rose 43% from 2010 to 2024 |
The metro numbers show why looking at single counties can be misleading. New York City has the largest Black metro population in the country, but none of its individual boroughs show up as a majority-Black county on a map. Atlanta is different because it has both a massive Black population and a high overall percentage, with the surrounding suburban counties driving most of those numbers.
We have covered these population details before in our pieces on New York City population trends and Detroit population trends.
These cities show two sides of the same story: the older, historic Black centers in the North are still massive and important, even as the fastest new growth moves heavily toward the South and the Sunbelt.
States With The Largest And Fastest-Growing Black Populations
| Category | State Or Area | Latest Pew 2026 Finding |
| Largest Black population | Texas | About 4.3 million Black residents in 2024 |
| Second largest | Florida | About 4.0 million Black residents in 2024 |
| Third largest | Georgia | About 3.7 million Black residents in 2024 |
| Largest numerical increase since 2010 | Texas | Up about 1.3 million Black residents |
| Second largest numerical increase since 2010 | Florida | Up about 910,000 Black residents |
| Third largest numerical increase since 2010 | Georgia | Up about 680,000 Black residents |
| Fastest percentage growth | Utah | Black population up 104% from 2010 to 2024 |
| Next fastest growth | Arizona | Black population up 68% from 2010 to 2024 |
| Next fastest growth | Minnesota | Black population up 67% from 2010 to 2024 |
| Next fastest growth | Nevada | Black population up 62% from 2010 to 2024 |
Texas, Florida and Georgia have the largest gains in people. Utah, Arizona, Minnesota and Nevada had faster growth rates because their Black populations were smaller in 2010.
Counties With Very Small Black Populations
The other end of the county map looks completely different. Some small rural counties reported no residents identifying as Black alone in the 2020 Census table used by the older county list.
That should be described carefully. In a small county, one household can change the percentage. The “Black alone” number can also differ from “Black alone or in combination.”
| Wrangell City and Borough | Alaska | Small population and remote geography |
| Jackson County | Colorado | Rural county with low population density |
| Lane County | Kansas | Small Plains county with limited in-migration |
| Schuyler County | Missouri | Small rural county in northern Missouri |
| Worth County | Missouri | One of the smallest counties in the state by population |
| Petroleum County | Montana | One of the least-populated counties in the country |
| Banner County | Nebraska | Low-density rural county |
| Loup County | Nebraska | Very small population base |
| Bowman County | North Dakota | Remote Great Plains county |
| Loving County | Texas | Extremely small population, making percentages volatile |
| Piute County | Utah | Small rural county |
| Crook County | Wyoming | Low-density county in the Mountain West |
These counties share three basic features: small populations, isolated locations, and weak job markets. Most of them lack a large university, hospital system, military base, major factory, or close link to a big city job market. Those types of employers and institutions are usually what bring people of different backgrounds to an area.
The counties with the lowest percentages of Black residents are not all just white communities. Several areas across the Northern Plains and the Mountain West have large Native American populations. The best way to look at the map is not as a simple split between Black and white populations, but as a local history of where people settled, Indigenous lands, older jobs, and proximity to big cities.
Counties Under 0.1% Black Population
Counties with fewer than 0.1% Black residents are generally small, rural and far from the metro areas that shaped Black migration.
The list includes counties in Idaho, Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Kansas, Iowa and similar low-density areas.
| Caribou County | Idaho | Interior Mountain West |
| Mercer County | Missouri | Rural northern Missouri |
| Osborne County | Kansas | Great Plains |
| Kimball County | Nebraska | Western Nebraska |
| Taylor County | Iowa | Rural Midwest |
| Hitchcock County | Nebraska | Rural Great Plains |
| Grant County | South Dakota | Rural northern Plains |
| Wayne County | Utah | Rural Utah |
| Emery County | Utah | Rural Utah |
| Cimarron County | Oklahoma | Oklahoma Panhandle |
| Kearney County | Nebraska | Rural Nebraska |
| Greeley County | Nebraska | Rural Nebraska |
| Menominee County | Wisconsin | County with a large Native American population |
| Jeff Davis County | Texas | Remote West Texas |
| Mellette County | South Dakota | County with a large Native American population |
| Big Horn County | Montana | County with a large Native American population |
The table should not be used to assume that all of these areas look the exact same racially.
Some of these counties are almost entirely white. Others have large Native American populations. In many places, the Hispanic population is much larger than the Black population. The only thing these counties actually share is that they missed out on the specific historical events and job growth that drew larger Black communities to other parts of the country.
The Great Migration Still Shapes The Map
The Great Migration remains the central reason the Black population map looks the way it does.
The National Archives describes it as one of the largest movements of people in US history, with about six million Black people leaving the South for Northern, Midwestern and Western states from roughly the 1910s to the 1970s.
The Census Bureau’s Great Migration visualization also places the movement between 1910 and 1970 and describes about six million Black people leaving the South. The main destinations included Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and other industrial or urban centers.
The push factors were severe: Jim Crow laws, racial violence, disenfranchisement, limited land ownership and poor economic opportunity in the rural South. The pull factors were industrial jobs, war production, union work, urban Black institutions and better chances for education and mobility.
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The New Great Migration Rebuilt The South As A Black Population Center
The Brookings Institution calls this movement a New Great Migration, as Black Americans moving across state lines increasingly choose Southern states. Georgia, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland were the top destinations between 2015 and 2020.
This newer trend is not about people moving back to old farming communities. Instead, it is driven by big city economies, suburban growth, college campuses, healthcare networks, government employment, and tech or finance hubs. Atlanta is the prime example, but the same thing is happening around Dallas, Houston, Charlotte, Raleigh, Orlando, and the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
| Migration Era | Time Period | Main Direction | Major Effects |
| Great Migration | 1910 to 1970 | South to North, Midwest and West | Built large Black communities in Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles and Oakland |
| Deindustrialization Period | 1970s to 1990s | Older Northern job centers weakened | Industrial decline reduced opportunity in many Great Migration destination cities |
| New Great Migration | 1990s to present | Return and movement to Southern and Sunbelt metros | Growth in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Charlotte, Raleigh, Orlando, Washington suburbs and other metros |
| Current 2026 Pattern | Latest Pew and Census data | Large Sunbelt gains, continued metro concentration | Texas, Florida and Georgia add the most Black residents; Utah, Arizona, Minnesota and Nevada grow fastest by percentage |
Methodology
This article uses Pew Research Center’s February 2026 update on the U.S. Black population for the latest national, state and metro findings. Pew used the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey and defined the Black population as people who identify as single-race non-Hispanic Black, multiracial non-Hispanic Black, or Black Hispanic.
County ranking tables are based on the 2020 Census county and county-equivalent data used in the existing page, with terminology corrected to separate Black alone from Black alone or in combination. The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2024 county-characteristics page is used as the latest county estimate reference because it is the most recent completed county-level demographic estimate series available in June 2026.
Historical context comes from Census decennial race categories, the National Archives and the Census Bureau Great Migration materials. Modern migration context comes from Brookings research on the New Great Migration and Pew’s 2026 state and metro analysis.
Bottom Line
The Black population in the United States reached 49.2 million in the latest Pew benchmark, and the county map remains deeply uneven. Majority-Black counties are concentrated in the South, especially Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana. At the other end, many low-density rural counties in the Great Plains, Mountain West and northern interior have very small Black populations.
The 2026 story is not only about where Black Americans have lived historically. It is also about where growth is happening now. Texas, Florida and Georgia added the most Black residents from 2010 to 2024, while Utah, Arizona, Minnesota and Nevada recorded the fastest growth rates. New York remains the largest Black metro population, but Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and other Sunbelt metros show where much of the map is moving.
The county data still points back to slavery, the Black Belt, Jim Crow, the Great Migration and the New Great Migration. The latest figures also point forward: a younger, more diverse Black population is reshaping suburbs, metros and states far beyond the older county map.
