Dateline: 08/17/01

According to Census 2000 figures released this week, 36.4 million people, or 12.9 percent of the total population, reported as being Black or African American. About 60 percent of all Black or African Americans lived in 10 states that contained almost half the total U.S. population in 2000.

The Census Bureau report, The Black Population: 2000, shows that 34.7 million people reported as Black alone, while another 1.8 million reported as Black combined with one or more other races.

Census 2000 data on race cannot be accurately compared to data from the 1990 census or earlier censuses because in 2000, respondents could report their racial heritage as being from one or more races for the first time.

The states in which 6 out of 10 African Americans lived in 2000 were: New York, California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan and Louisiana. Five of these had more than 2 million Blacks each: New York, California, Texas, Florida and Georgia. 

Over 1 million African Americans lived in each of the 10 southern states of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Louisiana, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.

New York was the state with the largest number of people reporting as Black in 2000 (3,014,385).

On a regional basis, 54 percent of the Black population lived in the South, 19 percent lived in the Midwest, 18 percent lived in the Northeast and 10 percent lived in the West.

The region with the highest proportion of people reporting Black as a percentage of its total population was the South - 20 percent, followed by the Northeast - 12 percent, the Midwest - 11 percent, and the West - 6 percent.

Among American cities, New York City had the largest number of people reporting as Black with about 2.3 million, followed by Chicago, 1.1 million, and Detroit, Philadelphia and Houston, which had between 500,000 and 1 million each.

Among places with 100,000 or more population, Gary had the highest percentage of people reporting as Black, 85 percent, followed by Detroit, with 83 percent.

The Census Bureau will be releasing Census 2000 briefs on other races and on topics including age, sex and housing over the next several months. A listing of Census 2000 briefs can be found on the Census Bureau's Web site at www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs.html

Other reports schedule for release during Summer 2001 include:

• The Two or More Races Population
• The American Indian and Alaska Native Population
• The Asian Population
• The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population
• Age Distribution
• The 65 Years and Over Population
• Gender
• Housing
• Households and Families
• The U.S. Population Compared Globally

All of the Census 2000 briefs and many other Census reports require that the free Adobe Acrobat(R) PDF file reader be installed on your computer in order to view, print or save them. (Get it Here.)