40.7 million

This is the estimated population of Black residents in the United States as of July 1, 2007. Blacks now comprise 13.5 percent of the nation’s total population. This figure represents an increase of more than half a million from one year earlier.


65.7 million

This is the projected Black population for July 1, 2050. On that date Blacks are projected to represent 15 percent of the population.


18

This is the number of states with an estimated Black population of at 1 million people as of July 1, 2007. New York State had the largest population of Blacks with 3.5 million. The 17 other states were Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.


38%

This is the percentage of Mississippi’s population that is Black, highest of any state. Blacks also make up more than quarter of the population in Louisiana (32 percent), Georgia (31 percent), Maryland (30 percent), South Carolina (29 percent) and Alabama (27 percent). Blacks also comprise 56 percent of the population in the District of Columbia.


84,000

This is the increase in Georgia’s Black population between July 1, 2006 and July 1, 2007, an increase that led all states. The states of Texas (62,000), Florida (48,000), and North Carolina (45,000) also recorded large increases in their Black populations during the same period.


24

This is the number of states in which Blacks are the largest minority group. These include Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.


1.4 million

This is the number of Blacks in Cook County, Illinois as of July 1, 2007. Cook County led all counties in the size of its Black population. Orleans Parish in Louisiana had the largest increase (20, 800) in Black population between July 1, 2006 and July 1, 2007. Neighboring St. Bernard Parish had the largest percent increase (97 percent) over the same period.

Among counties with the largest populations of at least 10,000, Claiborne County, Mississippi had the largest percent (84.5 percent) of its population that was Black. Claiborne led 82 majority Black counties or equivalents, all but one (St. Louis, MO) of which was in the South.


31%

This is the proportion of the Black population younger than 18 as of July 1, 2007. This compares to 8 percent of the Black population that was 65 and older.

Source: United States Bureau of the Census