Comparing conditions for Black Americans with those of White Americans who live in the same communities (considering factors such as standard of living and job opportunities), senior partner Shelley Stewart and colleagues find that virtually nowhere in the United States are outcomes for Black residents on a par with those of their White peers. Among US counties, only 37 with a population of more than 25 Black residents are close to parity. Those counties are home to just 39,000 Black residents, or 0.1 percent of the Black US population.
![Less than 0.1 percent of the Black population in the United States lives in a county that is close to achieving parity.](/~/media/mckinsey/featured%20insights/charting%20the%20path%20to%20the%20next%20normal/2024/feb/gifs/cod-blackresidents_ex4-v8-pk-timed.gif)
Image description:
A circle is made up of 1,000 smaller circles, where each represents a county with a population of ~40,000 Black US residents. It shows how close each of those counties is to achieving parity between Black and White outcomes. Only 1 county, or less than 0.1%, achieves a parity of >90%, and of the remainder, only 26 achieve >80%.
End of image description.
To read the report, see “The state of Black residents: The relevance of place to racial equity and outcomes,” February 1, 2024.