An estimated 3,687,334 people in Georgia identify as Black, either alone or in combination with another race, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-year estimates for 2020–2024. That is 33.7% of everyone who lives in the state, and Georgia ranks 3rd among states for the size of its Black population.
The population figure in this article counts everyone who reported being Black, whether they identified as Black only or as Black together with one or more other races. This is the broadest way the survey measures the community, and it is the measure used throughout this portrait for population, share and rank. A narrower measure counts only people who identified as Black and no other race. By that measure, the community in Georgia numbers an estimated 3,401,114 people.
Georgia as a whole is home to an estimated 10,940,407 people. With 3,687,334 Black residents, the community makes up 33.7% of the state's population.
Another way to see how concentrated a community is in one place is the location quotient. It compares the community's share of a place's population with its share of the population of the nation as a whole. Georgia's location quotient for the Black community is 2.33, which means the community is more concentrated in Georgia than in the country overall.
Georgia also accounts for a notable part of the community nationwide. The state's Black residents represent 7.6% of the Black population of the United States.
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Compared with other states
Ranked by the number of Black residents, Georgia is 3rd among states. That places it in the 96th percentile: the share of states with a smaller Black population.
Georgia also stands out on concentration, meaning the community's share of each state's total population. On that measure, Georgia again ranks 3rd among states and sits in the 96th percentile, the share of states where the community makes up a smaller part of the population.
Taken together, these rankings show that Georgia is near the top among states both for how many Black residents it has and for how large a part of the population they form.
Income, poverty, homeownership and education
The economic and education figures in this section are measured among people who identify as Black alone, or among households headed by someone who identifies as Black alone. They describe that group, not the broader population counted above. Each rate is compared with the same measure for the Black community nationwide, not with all Americans.
Median household income is the midpoint of household incomes: the income level that divides households into a higher-earning and a lower-earning group of equal size. For households headed by a Black householder in Georgia, the median household income is $60,205. Compared with the national median for Black householders, the ratio is 1.09, which means the Georgia median is above the community's national median.
The poverty rate is the share of people whose income falls below the federal poverty level for their household size. Among Black residents of Georgia, the poverty rate is 19.0%. That is 2.1 percentage points lower than the poverty rate for Black people nationwide.
The homeownership rate is the share of occupied homes that are owned, rather than rented, by the people living in them. Among households headed by a Black householder in Georgia, the homeownership rate is 50.7%. That is 6.7 percentage points higher than the rate for Black householders across the nation.
The education measure looks at adults who hold at least a bachelor's degree. In Georgia, 28.2% of Black adults have a bachelor's degree or higher. That is 2.8 percentage points higher than the share for Black adults nationwide.
Across all four measures, the figures for Georgia sit apart from the community's national figures: income, homeownership and the bachelor's degree rate are above the national levels for the Black community, and the poverty rate is below the national level.
The overall picture
Georgia's Black community is large both in absolute numbers and as a share of the state's residents, and the state ranks near the top among states on both counts. Its income, poverty, homeownership and education rates each differ from the community's national rates, giving a distinct state-level portrait of the Black community in Georgia.
