Claiborne County, Mississippi, has 9,135 residents, and 88.6 percent of them identified as Black in the 2020 Census. Prince George’s County, Maryland, is more than 100 times larger at 967,201 people. Its Black share is 63 percent.
Three animated maps below follow shares like these across every U.S. county from 1990 to 2022. They were built in ArcGIS from U.S. Census Bureau data.
About 46.9 million people identified as Black or African American in the 2020 Census, roughly one in seven U.S. residents.
Key Takeaways
The 2020 Census counted 46,936,733 people who identified as Black or African American alone or in combination with another race.
57 percent of the Black population lived in the South in 2020, up from 53 percent in 1970.
103 counties and county equivalents in 11 states had a Black majority in 2020. Mississippi led with 25 and Georgia followed with 22.
Majority-Black counties range from Issaquena County, Mississippi, with 1,338 residents to Prince George’s County, Maryland, with 967,201.
The first map of the U.S. shades every county by its African American share of population, in classes from 1 percent up to 80 percent or more. Only a few counties reach the top class in the 2020 Census, and all of them are in Mississippi or Alabama.
The second keeps only counties where African Americans make up 10 percent or more of residents and steps through the years from 1990 to 2022. The metro counties around Atlanta, Dallas and Houston are good ones to watch, because Brookings names those metros among the biggest gainers of Black migrants since the 1990s.
The third raises the bar to 50 percent. In the 2020 Census, 103 counties and county equivalents cleared it, counting residents who identified as Black alone or in combination with another race. Count only those who chose Black as their sole race and the total drops to about 94.
Where do most Black Americans live?
Texas had the largest Black population in 2020 at 3.96 million. Florida followed with 3.70 million, then Georgia (3.54 million), New York (3.53 million) and California (2.83 million).
Share paints a different picture. Washington, D.C., and four Southern or Mid-Atlantic states lead the ranking.
State or district
Black share of population, 2020
District of Columbia
44.17%
Mississippi
37.94%
Louisiana
33.13%
Georgia
33.03%
Maryland
32.01%
Which counties have a Black majority?
Eleven states have at least one. South Carolina and Virginia have nine each, North Carolina eight, Louisiana seven, Arkansas six, Maryland three, Tennessee two and Florida one. Virginia’s total includes independent cities such as Petersburg and Portsmouth, which count as county equivalents.
The table pairs the four highest shares with the five most populous majority-Black counties.
County
State
Population, 2020
Black share
Claiborne
Mississippi
9,135
88.60%
Jefferson
Mississippi
7,260
86.72%
Holmes
Mississippi
17,000
85.23%
Greene
Alabama
7,730
82.20%
Prince George’s
Maryland
967,201
63.03%
Shelby
Tennessee
929,744
53.00%
DeKalb
Georgia
764,382
53.30%
Baltimore (city)
Maryland
585,708
60.42%
Orleans Parish
Louisiana
383,997
57.02%
What does the Great Migration have to do with today’s map?
In 2020, 57 percent of Black Americans lived in the South. In 1970 the share was 53 percent. Before that came six decades of departures.
Back in 1910, close to 90 percent of Black Americans lived in the South. An estimated 6 million left between 1910 and 1970, and Chicago, Detroit, New York and Philadelphia saw some of the largest changes in racial makeup. By 1970 the states with the most Black residents were New York, Illinois and California. In 1910 they had been Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama.
Then the flow reversed. Brookings dates the turnaround to the 1970s and credits younger, college-educated Black Americans heading for Texas, Georgia and North Carolina. Metro Atlanta’s Black population grew five-fold between 1970 and 2020.
If you’re interested in exploring U.S. geography more, here are some detailed maps you can find on Amazon:
