Previous page

Front Page Download report

Next

Jamaicans and Haitians are the two major sources of Afro-Caribbeans in all ten areas in the table. A majority in Miami (61%), West Palm Beach (62%), and Boston (57%), and a near majority in Newark (49.8%) are of Haitian ancestry. Jamaicans are the larger group in Fort Lauderdale (46%), New York (40%), Nassau-Suffolk (39%), Washington (49%), and Atlanta (53%).

Washington, D.C. and New York have the largest African-born populations (80,281 and 73,851, respectively). The 1990-2000 growth rates exceed 100 percent in all the top metro areas for this population, save Los Angeles-Long Beach (at 53.5 percent). Minneapolis-St. Paul saw a 628.4 percent increase in its African population, largely due to refugees from East Africa. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, Africans contribute over 15 percent of the non-Hispanic black population; in Boston, Africans account for nearly 10 percent of non-Hispanic blacks.

In the ten metros in this table, most Africans were born in West Africa (mainly Nigeria and Ghana) or East Africa (Ethiopia or in the “other East Africa” category that includes Somalis). East Africans are the larger source in Minneapolis (61%), and they approximately equal West Africans in Los Angeles-Long Beach (37%) and Dallas (40%). Elsewhere West Africans predominate: Washington (53%), New York (69%), Atlanta (48%), Boston (60%), Houston (61%), Chicago (58%), and Philadelphia (53%).

Social and Economic Characteristics of America’s Black Populations

It is well known that the socioeconomic profile of non-Hispanic blacks is unfavorable compared to whites, Asians, and Hispanics. Table 4 offers a comparison based on the 1990 and 2000 PUMS. Less recognized is the striking diversity within the black population. African Americans have lower educational attainment and median income, and higher unemployment and impoverishment than Afro-Caribbeans and Africans. Afro-Caribbeans and Africans generally compare favorably to America’s Hispanic population, while African Americans fare worse:

• Nativity – Over two-thirds of the Afro-Caribbean and nearly 80 percent of the African population is foreign-born. The percent foreign-born of these groups is higher than that of Asians. Not surprisingly, the percent foreign-born among the group we define as African American is small.
• Education – Educational attainment of Africans (14.0 years) is higher than Afro-Caribbeans (12.6 years) or African Americans (12.4 years) – indeed, it is higher even than whites and Asians. This suggests that black Africans immigrate selectively to the U.S. based on their educational attainment or plans for higher education.

• Income – Median household income of African Americans is lower than any other group in the table, lower even than Hispanics. Africans and Afro-Caribbeans have much higher median incomes (about $43,000), though still well below whites and Asians.
• Unemployment and poverty – Africans and Afro-Caribbeans also have the lowest rates of unemployment and impoverishment among blacks, comparing favorably to Hispanics. Their position is substantially worse than that of Asians and whites, but Africans’ unemployment is not far from that of these two groups.

Previous page

Front Page Download report

Next