New York State Black Population

Note: I’m not sure of the date of this information. I was curious to ask this question because I have not seen many Blacks in the areas I’ve been traveling through. Now I know that I was not imaging things.

At 3,824,642, New York State has the 2nd largest Black population of any state in the nation. The vast majority of African Americans in the state live in New York City and its surrounding counties. In the rest of the state commonly referred to as Upstate New York, African Americans live almost entirely in urban areas and mostly within city limits. These areas are mid-sized mostly manufacturing based cities such as Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester. African American concentrations can also be found in smaller cities and towns in or near the Hudson Valley between New York City and Albany such as Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Monticello.

During the last few decades Black Americans began experiencing a decline in the quality of living and thousands have opted to move to other parts of the country in search of better opportunities. Although African Americans have been leaving the State in large numbers their population has been replaced by Black immigration from Africa and the Caribbean. Those of direct Sub Saharan African descent total 255,118. Blacks of Caribbean descent number even higher at 809,022.