city demographic and socioeconomic data. We analyzed the performance of each city in 13 selected criteria, including local black unemployment rate, black homeownership, black-owned businesses, average new home price, black high school and college graduation rates, and black household earnings. This information was critical because it revealed whether black residents’ perceptions of urban quality of life in their cities matched statistical evidence. Each city was ranked in those categories from 1 to 12, with combined numbers used to arrive at a total score. Cities were rated from best to worst performance to determine the final BE ranking: “Top Cities for African Americans.”
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Final Tally |
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|
TOP 10 |
B.E. |
SURVEY |
RANK |
TOTAL |
BLACKS |
BLACK (MSA) |
BLACKS |
| Atlanta, GA | 1 | 71.06 | 3 | 4,247,981.00 | 1,199,428.00 | 28.2 | 61.6 |
| Washington, DC | 2 | 67.12 | 2 | 4,796,183.00 | 1,307,056.00 | 27.3 | 60.5 |
| Dallas, TX | 3 | 63.85 | 8 | 5,161,544.00 | 536,426.00 | 10.4 | 26.1 |
| Nashville, TN | 4 | 63.57 | NR | 1,311,789.00 | 195,784.00 | 14.9 | 27.3 |
| Houston, TX | 5 | 70.12 | 1 | 4,715,407.00 | 732,817.00 | 15.5 | 25.4 |
| Charlotte, NC | 6 | 67.64 | 4 | 1,330,448.00 | 310,334.00 | 23.3 | 33.0 |
| Birmingham, AL | 7 | 66.18 | NR | 1,052,238.00 | 277,997.00 | 26.4 | 73.6 |
| Memphis, TN | 8 | 65.74 | 5 | 1,205,204.00 | 494,121.00 | 41.0 | 61.6 |
| Columbus, OH | 9 | 63.33 | NR | 1,612,694.00 | 217,715.00 | 13.5 | 25.8 |
| Baltimore, MD | 10 | 60.98 | 7 | 2,552,994.00 | 710,184.00 | 27.8 | 64.8 |
| B.E. Cities Average | 65.96 | 2,798,648.20 | 598,186.20 | 22.8 | 47.0 | ||
| National Average | 12.9 | 12.9 | |||||
|
Urban Environment |
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|
TOP 10 |
MEDICAL |
MASS TRANSIT |
VIOLENT |
PROPERTY |
HATE |
CITY |
BLACK |
BLACKS |
AVG. |
| Atlanta, GA | 104.9 | 16.7 | 525.1 | 4,113.4 | 19.0 | Shirley Franklin†| 64.5 | 55.3 | 31.2 |
| Washington, DC | 109.4 | 24.4 | 505.5 | 3,541.6 | 11.0 | Anthony Williams†| 62.5 | 54.0 | 32.8 |
| Dallas, TX | 109.0 | 16.2 | 682.5 | 5,196.8 | 47.0 | Laura Miller | 58.7 | 49.7 | 27.9 |
| Nashville, TN | 80.9 | 5.4 | 927.1 | 4,633.4 | 6.0 | Bill Purcell | 66.0 | 50.7 | 25.8 |
| Houston, TX | 107.1 | 15.1 | 814.2 | 4,691.2 | 66.0 | Bill White | 66.3 | 51.8 | 29.0 |
| Charlotte, NC | 102.6 | 3.9 | 801.9 | 5,323.0 | 13.0 | Patrick McCrory | 61.6 | 55.5 | 26.1 |
| Birmingham, AL | 92.4 | 2.8 | 536.2 | 4,153.5 | N/A | Bernard Kincaid†| 75.9 | 58.3 | 26.2 |
| Memphis, TN | 88.0 | 8.0 | 1,104.4 | 6,312.0 | 19.0 | Willie W. Herenton†| 69.9 | 57.0 | 24.5 |
| Columbus, OH | 97.4 | 9.0 | 509.3 | 5,724.2 | 71.0 | Michael B. Coleman†| 61.6 | 47.2 | 23.2 |
| Baltimore, MD | 97.5 | 17.2 | 990.1 | 4,134.2 | 13.0 | Martin O’Malley | 67.5 | 52.8 | 29.8 |
| B.E. Cities Average | 98.9 | 11.9 | 739.6 | 4,782.3 | 29.4 | African American†| 65.5 | 53.2 | 27.7 |
| National Average | 100.0 | 8.0 | 456.0 | 3,950.0 | N/A | 64.5 | 46.3 | 22.6 | |
| *ALL DATA ARE FOR METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS (MSA) UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. MSA IS DEFINED BY THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU AS A CORE URBANIZED AREA AND ITS SURROUNDING URBANIZED COUNTIES WITH A TOTAL POPULATION OF 100,000 OR MORE INHABITANTS. **TOTAL COST OF LIVING AS AN INDEX AGAINST NATIONAL AVERAGE; NATIONAL AVERAGE EQUALS 100. ***REJECTION RATES FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS FOR CONVENTIONAL HOME LOANS. ****DISSIMILARITY INDEX IS A MEASURE OF SEGREGATION BETWEEN GROUPS OF PEOPLE, RANGING FROM 0, INDICATING COMPLETE INTEGRATION, TO 100 INDICATING COMPLETE SEGREGATION.
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