Why Charlotte and Raleigh Work for Black Residents

Racial disparities are always going to crop up as an important issue when considering the economic health of an American city. Whether it’s a world-class metropolis like Chicago, a successful midsize city like Minneapolis or Pittsburgh, or a struggling Rust Belt town like Cleveland or Milwaukee, stories about wages and investment and development and business conditions are almost always tempered by a reminder that African-American residents fail to share equally in whatever prosperity the region generates. Neighborhood segregation is rife, with black residents often forced to endure poor or nonexistent social services, unhealthy environmental conditions, deteriorating infrastructure and high crime rates.

While these problems are to be found in every large American city, some cities do a lot better than others. Atlanta and Washington are especially well-known as cities where black Americans can prosper. In both places, black Americans have relatively high median incomes, home and business ownership rates, while both have seen homicides decline by about 75 percent during the last three decades. Additionally, cities in Texas, with their cheap housing and growing economies, score highly.