This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SAU chapter.
- In 2022, 45.4 million Americans — 13.6% of the nation — identified as Black or African American alone.
- The share of children in foster care who were Black and not Hispanic decreased from 43% in 1998 to 22% in 2021.
- In fiscal year 2021, 18.2% of the federal workforce identified as Black and not Hispanic, a larger share than the 12.6% share of the overall population. White and Black Americans are overrepresented in the federal government, while Hispanic Americans are underrepresented.
- Sixty-three of the 535 seats in Congress (11.7%) are held by Black members.
- From 2016 to 2022, Black homeownership increased 3.4 percentage points from 41.6% to 45.0%. Overall homeownership rates increased by 2.4 points (63.4% to 65.8%). The percentage of Black people living in poverty decreased from 27.6% in 2011 to 17.1% in 2022.
- The voting rate for Black Americans in the 2020 presidential election was 62.6%, up from 2016 but down from 66.2% in 2012. Black Americans voted in the 2020 presidential election at a rate of 62.6%, up from 2016 but shy of a 2012 peak.
- Since at least 2000, Black workers have been more likely to belong to a union than people in other racial and ethnic groups. In 2023, 11.8% of Black workers were unionized, compared to 10.0% of workers overall.
- Black employees are likelier to be union members than those of other races and ethnicities.
- As of the 2020 census, 58% of the country’s non-Hispanic Black population lives in the South, compared to 18% in the Midwest, 16% in the Northeast, and 9% in the West.
- From 2010 to 2020, the non-Hispanic Black population in Texas (including only those who selected “Black alone” in the census) grew by 557,887 people, the largest increase in any state. By percentage, North Dakota’s smaller Black population had the highest increase: 238.8%, or up to 18,432 people.
