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Replace Boston with DFW. I think Houston has the best chance to get up in the top five personally because the Black middle class is exploding there. What I think hurts Houston is that there is nothing like a PG or a DeKalb County in the Houston area.
Because Houston isn't as segregated as those areas. Southwest Houston/Fort Bend is the primary area for well to do Blacks, and it's still too incredibly diverse.
What makes Prince George's County so attractive. I lived there and as an african american I would never live there again. Still the black sheep county of the DC area. Crime problem, bad schools. Sprawly with hideous 1960s apartment complexes, strip malls with bad stores. The beltway seems to be the dividing line. The outer beltway communities are nicer but still lack good shopping amenities like Tyson's, Montgomery or Columbia. Still lacking in good restaurants compared to its neighboring counties. Besides it being a majority black county and cheaper housing I don't see any reason to live there. Decade after decade retailers like Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel, Nike, Barney's and many others continue to ignore PG. Is there a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's yet? Besides it being a black middle class majority county I say no thanks.
Replace Boston with DFW. I think Houston has the best chance to get up in the top five personally because the Black middle class is exploding there. What I think hurts Houston is that there is nothing like a PG or a DeKalb County in the Houston area.
I agree, but Houston also benefits too because DeKalb is going downhill.
I can see Houston climbing ranks even higher because the word is finally starting to get out about Houston.
Because Houston isn't as segregated as those areas. Southwest Houston/Fort Bend is the primary area for well to do Blacks, and it's still too incredibly diverse.
Because Houston isn't as segregated as those areas. Southwest Houston/Fort Bend is the primary area for well to do Blacks, and it's still too incredibly diverse.
I agree, but Houston also benefits too because DeKalb is going downhill.
The effects of the recession were more pronounced in a county like Dekalb because Blacks were disproportionately affected by the economic downtown nationwide. But even outside of Dekalb County, metro Atlanta has a lot of smaller middle-class Black enclaves scattered about that are pretty stable and still doing well (Cascade, Camp Creek, Fayetteville, Lawrenceville, etc.).
Its always been very strange to me how black folks rate a city. The US is a strange case as a whole, as it is most likely the best country on earth to be a black professional, but at the same time has so much room for improvement.
That is why I stated that NYC is probably the best place. You have the economic indicators in Queens, where blacks out-earn whites. You have access to black cultural events and amenities, whether you are African American, Caribbean, Latino or African. The issue with NYC is that it has some of the worst racial profiling practices in the country (I went to school in NYC during my undergrad and had a few issues), so despite all the plusses there are major flaws.
It is really tough for me to give credit to most of these cities when there are so many minuses, even in so called "black meccas". If your black community is not equal or out earning whites income wise, if your black community has one of the highest black unemployment rates, if your black community has a huge disparity in health outcomes vs whites, etc..then I am sorry, your city does not deserve a pat on the back. It will take a long time to score highly on all categories as we did not exactly get a head start, but you have to score highly on the important stuff before you get elevated as a great place for black people to live.
Great post, as it notes and sums up things, good, bad or indifferent.
I think it really is a matter of finding a niche, no matter where you live. With that said, some areas are better than others. As mentioned in another thread, it seems like many areas with a pretty notable to strong military presence offer better metrics in regards to an area's Black population/community, for some reason.
Houston , Dallas, Charlotte , and Atlanta just to name a few.
Cross Charlotte off that list.....Not a good city for African Americans...
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