Cities Where African-Americans Are Doing The Best Economically: Atlanta #1 (Washington: best city, 2015)

[Mutiny77]

At the top of our list is Atlanta, long hailed as the unofficial capital of black America. The city, which in the 1960s advertised itself as “the city too busy to hate,” has long lured ambitious African-Americans. With its well-established religious and educational institutions, notably Spellman and Morehouse, which are ranked first and third, respectively, by US News among the nation’s historically black colleges, the area has arguably the strongest infrastructure for African-American advancement in the country. The region’s strong music and art scene has also made it an “epicenter for black glitterati” and culture.

The superlatives extend well beyond glamour to the basics of everyday life. Some 46.9% the metro area’s black population owned their own homes as of 2013, well above the 38% major metro average for African-Americans. Atlanta’s African-Americans have a median household income of $41,800, also considerably above the major metro average, while their rate of self-employment, 17.1%, is second only to New Orleans.

Clear evidence of the Atlanta area’s appeal can be seen in the growth of the black population, up 50% from 2000 through 2013. This is also well above the of 28% average growth in the African-American population in the nation’s 52 biggest metro areas during the same time.

The Cities Where African-Americans Are Doing The Best Economically - Forbes

[bfarley30]

Very surprised to see Raleigh on there.

Not surprised to see the best city in America as #1: ATL!!

[Mutiny77]

I'm not surprised to see Raleigh on there and while I knew it would rank highly, I *was* surprised to see it come in second.

[n3w5_junk13]

No surprise there! African-Americans are moving to Atlanta for the same reasons many others are: affordability. There's also institutional support and influence here that other cities should envy as it relates to African-Americans.

[cwkimbro]

Actually I am a bit surprised at some details.

Why is DC not #1? The median pay is better. Home ownership rate is higher... and that is in an expensive city where home ownership can be quite expensive.


Also... Washington DC is the South. DC is not a challenger to the "renewed Southern ascendency for African Americans." It is a part of that. Even Maryland is the South as much as they have tried to separate themselves to find an easy out from stereotypes.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

Actually I am a bit surprised at some details.

Why is DC not #1? The median pay is better. Home ownership rate is higher... and that is in an expensive city where home ownership can be quite expensive.


Also... Washington DC is the South. DC is not a challenger to the "renewed Southern ascendency for African Americans." It is a part of that. Even Maryland is the South as much as they have tried to separate themselves to find an easy out from stereotypes.

I suppose the methodology would explain why DC is third instead of first. I'm sure the very high COL has something to do with that.

As far as DC's "Southernness" goes, within this particular context I can somewhat understand why it isn't categorized as Southern here given its role as a destination city for Blacks during the Great Migration (although it did have Jim Crow) from points south. In that sense, it has a bit of a Northern quality historically and a Southern quality today in that it is still attracting Black migrants in significant numbers.

[SAAN]

Its kinda depressing because I just did a thread,
Is there any hope for the black part of Dekalb, south of HWY 78?

and the general though was it was hopeless. So if you have a area where alot of blacks have wealth and many see it as hopeless, I would hate to see how blacks are living in other cities that are ranked lower than Atlanta.

[bigstick]

Originally Posted by bfarley30

Very surprised to see Raleigh on there.

Not surprised to see the best city in America as #1: ATL!!

Raleigh is a surprise, about as boring as molasses..

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

Actually I am a bit surprised at some details.

Why is DC not #1? The median pay is better. Home ownership rate is higher... and that is in an expensive city where home ownership can be quite expensive.


Also... Washington DC is the South. DC is not a challenger to the "renewed Southern ascendency for African Americans." It is a part of that. Even Maryland is the South as much as they have tried to separate themselves to find an easy out from stereotypes.

I thought the same thing. How is DC not #1?

I was thinking maybe it has to do with the entreprenurial thing. I did know more black people in Atlanta who had their own businesses or worked from home. I did as well in an effort to supplement income. In DC many federal government jobs or industries relating to government pay much more than Atlanta. I know I would have made 6 figures doing the same job in DC that I did in Atlanta (I worked for government and government contractors). So they don't have an incentive to think of ways to make extra money. Just a guess.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by bfarley30

Very surprised to see Raleigh on there.

Not surprised to see the best city in America as #1: ATL!!

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

I'm not surprised to see Raleigh on there and while I knew it would rank highly, I *was* surprised to see it come in second.

I'm not surprised to see Raleigh both on and near the very top of that list either.

I'm not surprised to see Raleigh on and near the very top of that list because of the area's multiple colleges and universities (both large and small), the diverse and dynamic economy and relatively very close location of the Raleigh-Durham/Research Triangle area to the heavily populated Boston-NYC-Philly-Baltimore-D.C. Northeastern Corridor.

(...The Boston-NYC-Philly-DC corridor is the main and direct source of new residents for the Raleigh-Durham area because of the area's many institutions of higher learning and the area's diversified economy.)

The Raleigh-Durham area has numerous institutions of higher learning (including the three major research universities, Duke, UNC and NC State and a large HBCU in North Carolina Central University) and an economy that seems to be much more diversified than Charlotte.

(...In addition to the region's very large and outsized higher education infrastructure, the Raleigh-Durham area has a very large tech sector and a surprisingly large finance sector. The Raleigh-Durham area also has a very large medical/life sciences sector that seems to be very large for a metro region of its size....Whereas the focus in Charlotte seems to be primarily on Finance.)

It is because of the aforementioned factors that the Raleigh-Durham area appears to be threatening to surpass the Charlotte area as the largest metro region in North Carolina in the not-too-distant future.

Raleigh's home county of Wake County, NC (974,289 as of July 1, 2013) had only about 16,688 fewer residents than Charlotte's home county of Mecklenburg County, NC (990,977 as of 7/1/13)....A population gap that is closing because of the much more diversified economy and educational and research resources that seem to be much more available in Raleigh-Durham than they seem to be in Charlotte.