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DC, definitely: the overwhelming majority of Black DC suburbanites live in one county, Prince George's (MD), the most affluent majority-Black jurisdiction in the United States.
The other three Maryland counties and the four Virginia counties and four cities that make up the rest of the metro DC suburbs are definitely overwhelmingly white.
Census data shows DCs metro area is overall 44% non-Hispanic white, that’s hardly overwhelming.
Atlanta overall is 50% white for the entire metro.
I feel like outside of some Midwestern and Northeastern cities, the concept of a very heavily minority majority city-limit vs overwhelmingly white suburbs is basically dead. This is a trend that though it’s been occurring for awhile, it’s really changed over the past 15 years.
Are Atlanta and DCs suburbs even majority white when taken as a whole?
Stats from Wikipedia has Chicago split in 1/3's.
Chicago has the fifth highest foreign-born population in the United States.
In 2016, the population of Hispanics exceeded that of Blacks to become Chicago's second largest minority group with
- non-Hispanic Whites representing 32.6% of the population,
- Hispanics at 29.7% of the population,
- Blacks at 29.3% of the population.
Many Hispanics also in stats .... fall under White Population in other general stats. That say over 44% white for Chicago. The Black population has been shrinking and nothing new in that. Slowing Hispanic growth clearly hurts Chicago maintaining population now as not a sunbelt city gaining from any one larger city or region or fed from those leaving another city nearby.
Most metros will be much higher White population in suburbs. Some may have a high Hispanic population in both. Clearly, by far.... most times the hub city holds the larger total of minorities and this is pretty common. Perhaps Atlanta metro with 50/50 suburban Black/White is a exception and why it is worthy of a Black Mecca claim.
Just gonna bump this because yall are not talking about this enough for me.
Atlanta Vegas and LA are terrible options.
Especially Vegas and LA who's metros are demographically identical to the principal city...just a terrible option
Atlanta is becoming one of the cities where the suburbs are most like the city to the point where the borders feel kind of arbitrary. The energy level ebbs and flows throughout the metro. There are places a few miles away from downtown are randomly borderline rural whereas some suburb 20 miles away will be a dense hotbed of activity and amenities.
This is one of those ones like Austin where people think of it because it's supposed to be this "blue city red state" dynamic, but it doesn't hold up on the metro level. The core counties are all blue. Peacthree City is red but there's 100k people in the entire county, and some of the far NE parts are blue. Less than 10% of the metro population lives in red counties and other than PTC they are physically far from downtown.
Pittsburgh is an interesting case since my understanding is that the city is generally wealthier and more stable than the suburbs. That's not exactly a common dynamic for US cities, but don't know enough to talk about the concrete details relevant to the topic .
CT cities are generally blighted and poor compared to super wealthy suburbs. It's a common dynamic, just more extreme than in most other cases. Bridgeport comes to mind as another extreme example, since it's one of the wealthiest metros in the country if not the wealthiest. Yet the city itself has major issues and seems to lack the cultural capital, amenities, and stately architecture of Hartford.
DC, definitely: the overwhelming majority of Black DC suburbanites live in one county, Prince George's (MD), the most affluent majority-Black jurisdiction in the United States.
The other three Maryland counties and the four Virginia counties and four cities that make up the rest of the metro DC suburbs are definitely overwhelmingly white.
Fairfax County, the most populous jurisdiction in the region, is 50% white non-hispanic. Ignoring the very large non-European white population (MENA notably), I would not call it "overwhelmingly white". Loudoun is 55%, Alexandria is 52%, Fairfax City is 56%, Manassas is 41%, and Prince William is 42% non-hispanic white.
Prince William in particular does not fit this generalization at all--25% hispanic, 22% black, and 9% asian. Manassas' white non-hispanic and hispanic population total is very close in size.
Are Atlanta and DCs suburbs even majority white when taken as a whole?
Absolutely. The city of Atlanta continues to become less and less black each passing year. Wouldn’t be shocked if it loses majority black status in the next census. Atlanta hasn’t been a black mecca for some time now.
I voted for Detroit. It's the one metro where the principal city was deprived of so much investment to the point of suburban cores becoming more vibrant and I have gotten the impression that having a suburban address was/is considered cooler than being in the city. Also, arguably the most nationally recognizable ethnic commerce enclave (Dearborn) is in the burbs.
If this was a question about having the biggest differences between a metro's suburban or inner city quadrants, I would've given a special node to Chicago. There are differences between North/West/South/NWI suburbs, divided along race and class. Whites(huge overlap though) and Asians gravitate more towards the northern and western suburbs and these subregions contain the highest concentration of wealth(ex. North shore, Hinsdale, Oak Brook, southern half of Lake County IL) and white collar employment(ex. I-88/IT & Research corridor, Golden Corridor/I-90) in suburban Chicagoland. Among the ultra-wealthy ones, there exist old money elitism and at one point had racial covenants. Kenilworth once barred Blacks and Jews owning a house, and as of 2019 ACS there are literally no black identified persons in that suburb. Educational attainment when it comes to having Bachelor's degree or higher also leans significantly higher than the national average in these suburbs. Blacks are primarily south, west (Proviso Township), and in NWI(Lake County); and the suburbs/satellite cities there have a strong blue collar base. Generally, there's less wealth, fewer 4+ college degree attainments, and the most severe suburban poverty is found there (Ford Heights, Harvey, parts of Chicago Heights, etc.). Hispanics are a bit everywhere in large enough portions and there are plurality to majority hispanic communities in each sub-region, though the biggest are in the western and northern suburbs ( Cicero, Aurora, and Waukegan to name a few). I'm generalizing a bit as there is overlap, as each region covers a vast area. Whites (and Arabs) can be found in plurality to majority numbers in the southern suburbs (especially towards southwest) and NWI. There are blue collar/working class suburbs and a sizable black presence in the northern suburbs (Zion, North Chicago, and Waukegan having the highest concentration) and west. There are a handful of affluent southern suburbs and pockets where homes are valued at over $1 million ( Palos Park, Orland, and the Prestwick club of Frankfort). But the divide and bias is pronounce. Its to the point where there was talk of separating a large swath of southern Cook from rest of the county and building a third major airport to accommodate(especially for economic gains) the the residents in the area.
Absolutely. The city of Atlanta continues to become less and less black each passing year. Wouldn’t be shocked if it loses majority black status in the next census. Atlanta hasn’t been a black mecca for some time now.
If the suburbs can still come up to 50% black? That is still significant to remain a Black mecca whether it dips below 50% or not including the city dipping in Black %. Few Northern if any cities that might reach near that for the city-proper..... get anywhere close to that in the suburbs. Maybe I am wrong and there is a exception?
Some cities the minority count is high cause of a high Hispanic population and not just African-American.... so there is that also as I noted Chicago city-proper then breaks down in 1/3's that way.
Just gonna bump this because yall are not talking about this enough for me.
Atlanta Vegas and LA are terrible options.
Especially Vegas and LA who's metros are demographically identical to the principal city...just a terrible option
Atlanta is pretty interesting because unlike LA its a really small part of the metro. Like it would be pretty difficult for LA to differ a ton from its metro because the city is such a huge part of the metro. but Atlanta is like 8% of the metro and is pretty much a match.
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