Ethnicity of Black Americans

[King of Kensington]

Reported ethnicity.  Obviously a lot didn't specify beyond Black racial identity.

Ethnicity of Black or African American alone or in any combination, 2020 Census

African American  24,569,479
Jamaican  1,047,117
Haitian  1,032,717
Nigerian  604,077
Ethiopian  325,214
Somali  221,043
Trinidadian and Tobagonian  194,364
Ghanaian  172,558
West Indian  119,806

[mileslunn]

Reported ethnicity.  Obviously a lot didn't specify beyond Black racial identity.

Ethnicity of Black or African American alone or in any combination, 2020 Census

African American  24,569,479
Jamaican  1,047,117
Haitian  1,032,717
Nigerian  604,077
Ethiopian  325,214
Somali  221,043
Trinidadian and Tobagonian  194,364
Ghanaian  172,558
West Indian  119,806

Somali is actually smaller than I thought, mind you wonder what percentage live in Minnesota as seems Twin cities has a really large Somali population but nowhere else in US does.

[Horus]

Reported ethnicity.  Obviously a lot didn't specify beyond Black racial identity.

Ethnicity of Black or African American alone or in any combination, 2020 Census

African American  24,569,479
Jamaican  1,047,117
Haitian  1,032,717
Nigerian  604,077
Ethiopian  325,214
Somali  221,043
Trinidadian and Tobagonian  194,364
Ghanaian  172,558
West Indian  119,806

Somali is actually smaller than I thought, mind you wonder what percentage live in Minnesota as seems Twin cities has a really large Somali population but nowhere else in US does.

Columbus Ohio has a sizeable Somali population in the NE of town, especially along parts of Morse road, Cleveland ave and Agler road. Ohio's first two Somali state reps were elected in 2022, both from Franklin county.

Heavily Somali precincts were swing districts on the big two issues last year. My guess is it's an age gap.

[King of Kensington]

Black ethnicities in selected states (% of Black population), at least 20,000.

California

Nigerian  57,066  2%
Jamaican  37,264  1.3%
Ethiopian  33,191  1.2%

Connecticut

Jamaican  52,815  11.3%
Haitian  21,078  4.5%

Florida

Haitian  456,362  12.3%
Jamaican  254,148  6.9%
Trinidadian and Tobagonian  30,412  0.8%
West Indian  21,779  0.6%
Bahamian  21,105  0.6%  

Georgia

Jamaican  60,091  1.7%
Nigerian  38,952  1.1%
Haitian  30,853  0.9%

Illinois

Nigerian  29,587  1.5%

Maryland

Nigerian  57,571  2.9%
Jamaican  35,953  1.8%
Ethiopian  34,650  1.8%

Massachusetts

Haitian  87,328  13%
Jamaican  29,099  4.3%

Minnesota

Somali  91,111  18.8%
Ethiopian  26,259  5.4%

New Jersey

Haitian  71,670  5.1%
Jamaican  61,949  4.4%
Nigerian  32,776  2.3%

New York

Jamaican  284,228  8%
Haitian  187,087  5.3%
Trinidadian and Tobagonian  71,251  2%
Nigerian  52,110  1.5%
West Indian  45,878  1.3%
Ghanaian  28,642  0.8%
Barbadian  20,482  0.8%

Ohio

Somali  26,160  1.5%

Pennsylvania

Jamaican  33,767  2%
Haitian  28,136  1.7%

Texas

Nigerian  117,363  3%
Jamaican  29,100  0.7%
Ethiopian  27,903  0.7%

Virginia

Ethiopian  34,903  1.9%

Washington

Ethiopian  24,530  5.5%

[mileslunn]

Looks like for Jamaican more than half in Florida and New York which is not a surprise.  I believe even if drilled down more, South Florida metropolitan area and NYC metro area has majority of Jamaican-Americans in US.  Canada has large Haitian and Jamaican and I have often thought for Jamaican it is Toronto for Canada, New York City for US while for Haitian it is Montreal for Canada, Miami for US.

Haitian no surprise Florida is largest but appears slightly more live outside Florida than in but close.

Nigerian is more spread out but Texas is largest there with around a quarter.

Ethiopian is spread out too but I believe DC metro area (which would include both Maryland and Virginia) is largest in US for them.

Somali - more live outside Minnesota than in, but Minnesota only state where sizeable portion of population as they are almost 2% of state's population whereas in other states they are well under 1% so may have a few individual communities where large, but not large overall.

While not listed on here and many mixed race, I believe for Cape Verdeans, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are biggest and in fact found in almost same areas large Portuguese population is.  But possible they are mostly of white minority for Cape Verde or mixed race even though Cape Verde is majority Black.

[King of Kensington]

The West Indian origin population in New York seems to be undercounted; it seems to be the foreign born only who are identifying an ancestry group.

Black immigrants, New York State (2018)

Jamaica  226,898
Haiti  126,572
Trinidad and Tobago  73,294
Guyana  60,896
Ghana  35,838
Nigeria  34,761
Barbados  25,836

https://depts.washington.edu/moving1/NewYork.shtml

[TDAS04]

According to Wikipedia, the city with the largest Sudanese-American population is Omaha, Nebraska. Des Moines, Iowa is a close second, and is first in terms of % the city’s population (over 1% of Des Moines is Sudanese). Plus I also know a handful of Sudanese here in Sioux Falls.

[mileslunn]

According to Wikipedia, the city with the largest Sudanese-American population is Omaha, Nebraska. Des Moines, Iowa is a close second, and is first in terms of % the city’s population (over 1% of Des Moines is Sudanese). Plus I also know a handful of Sudanese here in Sioux Falls.

Wondering if many work in agricultural related fields.  In Canada, largest Sudanese community per capita is Brooks, Alberta where have a very large meat packing plant.  Also are they from Sudan or South Sudan as two quite distinct.  Former is mix of Arab and Black and overwhelmingly Muslim whereas latter is all Black and predominately Christian.

[King of Kensington]

Seems like the trans-Mississippi Midwest (save St. Louis which is on the Mississippi River and is more like a rust belt city and is also pretty close to the South) a fairly large percentage of the overall Black population.  It wasn't a major center for the Great Migration, so even modest numbers change the composition.  Of the West North Central states only Missouri is more than 10% Black.

[TDAS04]

Wondering if many work in agricultural related fields.  In Canada, largest Sudanese community per capita is Brooks, Alberta where have a very large meat packing plant.  Also are they from Sudan or South Sudan as two quite distinct.  Former is mix of Arab and Black and overwhelmingly Muslim whereas latter is all Black and predominately Christian.

Many Sudanese in the Upper Midwest do work in the meat-packing industry.

All of the Sudanese I know are Black. Most are Christian, but a few are Muslim. The data for Sudanese-American population sizes may not even differentiate between Sudan and South Sudan. While some of the Christians may identify with South Sudan, most of my Sudanese friends and acquaintances were already here long before 2011 (when Sudan officially split).

[mileslunn]

Seems like the trans-Mississippi Midwest (save St. Louis which is on the Mississippi River and is more like a rust belt city and is also pretty close to the South) a fairly large percentage of the overall Black population.  It wasn't a major center for the Great Migration, so even modest numbers change the composition.  Of the West North Central states only Missouri is more than 10% Black.

True although only rural areas in Missouri with large Black population is southeast corner so they did have slavery despite joining union side in civil war but wasn't as big a part of the economy as further south.  Outside Southeast, most Blacks in Missouri are in St. Louis or Kansas City which is much like rest of Midwest where large Black population in cities, less so in suburbs and only started to grow there in past 20 years while relatively few in rural areas. 

Wondering if many work in agricultural related fields.  In Canada, largest Sudanese community per capita is Brooks, Alberta where have a very large meat packing plant.  Also are they from Sudan or South Sudan as two quite distinct.  Former is mix of Arab and Black and overwhelmingly Muslim whereas latter is all Black and predominately Christian.

Many Sudanese in the Upper Midwest do work in the meat-packing industry.

All of the Sudanese I know are Black. Most are Christian, but a few are Muslim. The data for Sudanese-American population sizes may not even differentiate between Sudan and South Sudan. While some of the Christians may identify with South Sudan, most of my Sudanese friends and acquaintances were already here long before 2011 (when Sudan officially split).

That makes sense.  Actually almost all African countries are arbitrary boundaries based on European colonialism not actual ethnicities.  Nonetheless most came when it was still Sudan, not split like now.  However Sudan and South Sudan are quite distinct culturally and religiously and appears in US most are from South Sudan not Sudan.  And makes sense as when part of Sudan, Christians were persecuted so greater push factors than Muslim majority.  And even since split, Blacks in Sudan are not treated well (they are however mostly Muslim unlike South where mostly Christian) and Arabs generally dominate group in terms of political power so weaker push factors.  Never mind Arabs in Sudan would pretty much have to qualify under normal immigration procedures, couldn't came as refugees.  Whereas Blacks and South Sudanese before split likely could qualify as refugees

[King of Kensington]

According to the 2020 census, there are 4,500 Black Sudanese in Nebraska.

[mileslunn]

According to the 2020 census, there are 4,500 Black Sudanese in Nebraska.

I am guessing a lot in the meat packing plants.  In Canada, Brooks, Alberta has largest Sudanese community.  Also probably mostly South Sudanese and likely mostly Christian.  Although since US defines Arabs as white and there is no intermediate category, I suspect many Sudanese Arabs may check off Black as they look far closer to Black than white.  But then again Sudanese Arabs in US probably quite tiny. 

While not familiar with US refugee policy wondering if government decides where they go?  Somalis it is Minnesota, Hmong it is Wisconsin so if most came as refugees would make sense if government settles them in smaller states instead of the really large ones like New York, California, and Florida.  Those three have big immigrant communities but suspect a lot came as immigrants not refugees in those three asides from maybe Florida with respect to Cuban community.  But in that case US has wet feet dry land policy so as long as make it to land without being caught, then get to stay and Florida is by far the closest state to Cuba.  With Haitians probably same reason as Florida is where they landed and closest.  Canada it is mostly Montreal for Haitians but that is likely due to language as most speak French not English while in US there is no French speaking state.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Honestly, there should be a "descendant of enslaved people" ancestry category in the US census. People groups aren't eternal, unchanging things that just naturally sprout up from a particular geographic areas - they are the product of specific shared experiences, and the shared experience of New World chattel slavery was significant and traumatic enough that it can be seen as foundational to what one might call an ethnicity.

[Sol]

According to the 2020 census, there are 4,500 Black Sudanese in Nebraska.

While not familiar with US refugee policy wondering if government decides where they go? 

The U.S. government does decide where refugees go, which is why some communities have a bit of an odd geographic distribution. The Twin Cities are a long-standing center for refugee resettlement, which is why they have such a large Hmong and Somali community. There are other similar patterns too, like the Cambodian community in Lowell, Ex-Yugoslavians in St. Louis, Kurds in Nashville, etc. The tendency is for the federal government to send refugees to fairly dispersed locations to prevent anxiety about a wave of refugees; frequently they end up in small cities which are not the typical destinations for immigrants.

This is a pretty bad policy imo, because it often strands people in cities where there are very few people who share their culture or language. Frequently refugees will have family or friends living somewhere else, but often the limited aid which is allocated for refugees is contingent on them staying where they were initially settled. This can have bad implications for mental health!

This is why many people will move to cities where there's an already-established community; for example most Hmong refugees ended up moving either St. Paul or the Central Valley of California, and a lot of Somali refugees these days move to Minnesota. The most notable example of this is is of course Cuban Americans.