{"id":5843,"date":"2025-01-23T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-01-28T12:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:39:14","slug":"facts-about-the-us-black-population","status":"publish","type":"fact-sheet","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/race-and-ethnicity\/fact-sheet\/facts-about-the-us-black-population\/","title":{"rendered":"Facts About the U.S. Black Population"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
How we did this<\/summary>\n

This fact sheet is based on Pew Research Center tabulations of microdata from the Census Bureau\u2019s 2023 American Community Survey (ACS), provided through IPUMS<\/a> from the University of Minnesota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All displayed numbers are rounded. Shares and percent changes are calculated using unrounded numbers. The detailed tables which have been made available display unrounded tabulations using IPUMS data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fact sheet relies on people self-identifying their race and ethnicity in the Census Bureau\u2019s 2023 ACS to describe the nation\u2019s Black population. The racial and ethnic categories used in census data have changed over time, including question wording, formatting and instructions. This may affect how people identify by race and ethnicity. Read \u201cWhat Census Calls Us<\/a>\u201d for more details on how U.S. racial and ethnic categories have changed since 1790. Moreover, individuals may change how they identify their race and ethnicity in their lifetime. For example, respondents\u2019 perceptions of the questions and their own racial and ethnic identity can change<\/a> in response to individual circumstances and the way the nation sees race and itself<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note about data on immigrants:<\/strong> A recent publication by the Census Bureau<\/a> shows that immigrants are underrepresented in official population estimates used for the 2023 ACS. According to these recent population estimates, the U.S. population was larger than shown by the 2023 ACS by about 2 million people, or roughly 0.6%. Almost all of the additional people were immigrants who make up about 4% of the overall immigrant population shown in the 2023 ACS. In this fact sheet, we report data on the Black population \u2013 which includes data on immigrants \u2013 using the 2023 ACS. Readers should be aware that immigrant and all population figures in this fact sheet are slightly smaller than those indicated by the new Census Bureau estimates. We are evaluating the impact of the bureau\u2019s new population estimates on our reports about U.S. populations.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Terminology<\/summary>\n

Unless otherwise noted, adults<\/strong> are those who are ages 18 and older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Black population <\/strong>or total Black population<\/strong> refers to the population of Americans who self-identify as Black in the United States. This includes those who say their race is only Black and that they are not Hispanic; those who say Black is one of two or more races in their identity and they are not Hispanic; and those who say their race is Black alone or who say that one of their races is Black but also indicate they are of Hispanic or Latino origin. The terms Black population and Black people are used interchangeably in this fact sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The terms single-race, non-Hispanic Black; single-race Black;<\/strong> and Black alone, non-Hispanic<\/strong> are used interchangeably throughout this fact sheet to refer to the same population. This population is made up of individuals who self-identify only as Black and do not identify as Hispanic or Latino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The terms multiracial, non-Hispanic Black<\/strong> and multiracial Black<\/strong> are used interchangeably throughout this fact sheet to refer to people who self-identify with two or more races and do not identify as Hispanic or Latino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term Black Hispanic<\/strong> is used to refer to those who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino and as Black, either alone or in combination with other races. This group is not the same as the nation\u2019s Afro-Latino population<\/a> as not all Black Hispanics identify as Afro-Latino, and not all Afro-Latinos identify as Black or Hispanic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign born<\/strong> refers to people born outside of the United States to parents neither of whom was a U.S. citizen. The terms foreign born<\/strong> and immigrant<\/strong> are used interchangeably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this publication, the general fertility rate<\/strong> refers to the share of females ages 15 to 44 who gave birth in the previous 12 months. This measure of fertility does not account for the birth of more than one child by a single female in a 12-month period.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

The Black population of the United States is growing. In 2023, an estimated 48.3 million people self-identified as Black, making up 14.4% of the country\u2019s population. This marks a 33% increase since 2000, when there were 36.2 million Black people living in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Black American population is diverse. This group consists of people with varied racial and ethnic identities and experiences. It includes those who say their race is Black, either alone or in combination with other racial backgrounds. It also includes Hispanics who say their race is Black (though this group is not necessarily the same as the Afro-Latino population<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fact sheet is a profile of the demographic, geographic and economic characteristics of the U.S. Black population in 2023, presented through the lens of four different groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n