Best Cities for Black People In...Part I: NORTH CAROLINA

[murksiderock]

I'm starting an original series I'm calling, "Best Cities For Black People In...", beginning with my state of current residence and profiling all seven states I've lived in (Arkansas, California, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia), finishing with my state of birth...

There is no real methodology other than what I find important in my own black experience. I'll start by listing the black population percentage of the 20 largest cities in each state, and chronicle what I know about the black experience in said cities and state and what makes one place better or worse for us as a people...

I'm only one black man though, and I understand my desires and tastes differ from others, so I fully encourage every other person on this site to engage in this series with what you know about these states, cities, or any inquiries you have!

Part I, 20 largest cities in NC and their black percentage:

Rocky Mount 63.4%

Fayetteville 42.1%
Greensboro 41.8%
Greenville 40.4%

Durham 36.3%
Charlotte 33.5%
High Point 32.8%
Winston-Salem 32.6%
Gastonia 30%

Burlington 28%
Raleigh 26.7%
Kannapolis 21.8%
Concord 21.6%

Jacksonville 17.7%
Wilmington 17.4%

Huntersville 12.1%
Asheville 10.6%

Chapel Hill 9.7%
Cary 7.7%
Apex 6.8%

 

[the bossman]

Charlotte
RTP area

 

[murksiderock]

Of the seven states I've lived in, NC is the strongest overall for black people, and possibly the best state for black people in the nation. We have so much representation in education and government and politics that you don't get everywhere...

For clarity, I've lived in Fayetteville, Charlotte, and now Raleigh. I've spent a pretty good amount of time in Rocky Mount, Greensboro, and Durham over the years, and I've also visited Greenville, Winston-Salem, Burlington, Concord, Wilmington, and Huntersville. I've never been to the other Top 20 cities I didn't name; granted, I live in Wake County so I've passed thru Cary and probably Apex too but I've never stopped and did anything in either one...

For my money, no NC city is really great for black folk below the 20% threshold. That isn't the same threshold in every state, it's just what I've seen here. Wilmington is terrible for black people, one of the more flagrantly racist histories in a nation that's pretty flagrantly racist, with little black economic mobility. Lot of black folk I've met from there are lining to leave Wilmington...

Pale faces love that city though...

Raleigh is right there with Charlotte as the best city for black people I've ever lived in. The city itself is well over a quarter black, steeped in black history with huge community pride and representation at any civic level you turn. It's one of the safest larger cities in the US, something pretty uncommon for a city over 25% black, with overall low poverty and violence rates. Black arts and creativity and mobility are supported here, and WCPSS is one of the strongest public school systems in the country among big cities (my daughters are here)...

There are plenty of things for black people to enjoy here, and my only real qualms with the black experience in Raleigh are that the city is more self-segregated than I'd like, with black residents overwhelmingly on the eastern half of the city (NE Raleigh, SE Raleigh, East Raleigh); the sports venues are not downtown; downtown itself is good but not great; it's not as urban a city as I'd prefer but that's an NC thing in general; and it isn't quite as diverse as I'd prefer...

I like everything else about living here, love some of those things...

Other cities I think are great for black people here are Charlotte; my only real knock on Charlotte is public schools and the overall education infrastructure aren't great. It has everything else going for it and most things in spades, it's an outstanding city to live black in and is safer than most big cities despite the local fearmongering...

Greensboro, Durham, Fayetteville, Winston, and Concord are also good cities to live in as black folk, to varying degree....

Rocky Mount is by far the blackest NC city in the Top 20 and is also one of the worst, easily. It's a decaying town, it's been in decline for a decade, almost no real entertainment there, super violent, terrible schools, wildly impoverished. I can't think of any redeeming qualities about The Rock to be honest, other than, if you're a person who would just be cool living in the blackest city you could find, it fits for NC...

 

[murksiderock]

Charlotte
RTP area

14 of the Top 20 cities are in Metrolina (Charlotte), The Triangle (Raleigh-Durham), and The Triad (Greensboro-Winston):

Metrolina---->Charlotte, Concord, Gastonia, Kannapolis, Huntersville

Triangle--->Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, Apex (and Fayetteville and Rocky Mount are in Raleigh's television market and are essentially satellite cities of The Triangle)

Triad--->Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point, Burlington

 

[BornStar]

Of the seven states I've lived in, NC is the strongest overall for black people, and possibly the best state for black people in the nation. We have so much representation in education and government and politics that you don't get everywhere...

For clarity, I've lived in Fayetteville, Charlotte, and now Raleigh. I've spent a pretty good amount of time in Rocky Mount, Greensboro, and Durham over the years, and I've also visited Greenville, Winston-Salem, Burlington, Concord, Wilmington, and Huntersville. I've never been to the other Top 20 cities I didn't name; granted, I live in Wake County so I've passed thru Cary and probably Apex too but I've never stopped and did anything in either one...

For my money, no NC city is really great for black folk below the 20% threshold. That isn't the same threshold in every state, it's just what I've seen here. Wilmington is terrible for black people, one of the more flagrantly racist histories in a nation that's pretty flagrantly racist, with little black economic mobility. Lot of black folk I've met from there are lining to leave Wilmington...

Pale faces love that city though...

Raleigh is right there with Charlotte as the best city for black people I've ever lived in. The city itself is well over a quarter black, steeped in black history with huge community pride and representation at any civic level you turn. It's one of the safest larger cities in the US, something pretty uncommon for a city over 25% black, with overall low poverty and violence rates. Black arts and creativity and mobility are supported here, and WCPSS is one of the strongest public school systems in the country among big cities (my daughters are here)...

There are plenty of things for black people to enjoy here, and my only real qualms with the black experience in Raleigh are that the city is more self-segregated than I'd like, with black residents overwhelmingly on the eastern half of the city (NE Raleigh, SE Raleigh, East Raleigh); the sports venues are not downtown; downtown itself is good but not great; it's not as urban a city as I'd prefer but that's an NC thing in general; and it isn't quite as diverse as I'd prefer...

I like everything else about living here, love some of those things...

Other cities I think are great for black people here are Charlotte; my only real knock on Charlotte is public schools and the overall education infrastructure aren't great. It has everything else going for it and most things in spades, it's an outstanding city to live black in and is safer than most big cities despite the local fearmongering...

Greensboro, Durham, Fayetteville, Winston, and Concord are also good cities to live in as black folk, to varying degree....

Rocky Mount is by far the blackest NC city in the Top 20 and is also one of the worst, easily. It's a decaying town, it's been in decline for a decade, almost no real entertainment there, super violent, terrible schools, wildly impoverished. I can't think of any redeeming qualities about The Rock to be honest, other than, if you're a person who would just be cool living in the blackest city you could find, it fits for NC...

I heard Fayetteville was bad af but has the most strip clubs



Wait there might be a correlation

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

Subbed to this thread. I want to move to a black city. Gotta get my career status up though, I know shyt ain't cheap.

 

[8====D]

My mom speaks highly of Raleigh. She literally mentioned it yesterday over the phone.

I'm more familiar with Charlotte though. Got some "family" out that way.

 

[Laidbackman]

Definitely have roots in Rocky Mount. Use to go on summer vacation there as a child. All that slowed down after high school...you know how that go. I never heard anyone refer to it as the Rock. I guess you learn something everyday .

Lately I've been considering Charlotte, to get away from the Atlanta scene. But I'm not sure how they'll tax my income, where as Georgia is much more tax friendlier to retirees.

 

[murksiderock]

I heard Fayetteville was bad af but has the most strip clubs



Wait there might be a correlation

Fayetteville and Durham are the same place, except one has an internationally renowned university and benefits from sitting next to Raleigh, and the other doesn't...

Fayetteville has a meager economy and is rough by NC standards, it, Durham, and Greensboro are the wild NC cities after Rocky Mount, which is much smaller than those three so the violence is more in your face. So Fayetteville gets its bad rap based on being broke in comparison to other NC cities and being kinda rough...

But it is a good place for black people. For one, it's rough by NC standards, but it isn't that bad if you've been around. Violence isn't pervasive, this isn't a city where people getting knocked off randomly or all the time. There's a strong black middle class, even if slightly smaller than some of the other cities, Fayetteville has a noticeable black middle class, buoyed by both military families and blue collar families...

It has among the lowest cost of living in the state, you can live like a fukking king in Fayetteville in 2022 on a $50,000 salary and can live quite comfortably at $35,000. Aside from the Army the city economy is fueled by low wage jobs you find in any city, but also by factory work, many civilians in Fayetteville are employed by one of the many poultry processing plants outside the city, or Goodyear, or soon-to-be Amazon facility thats opening on the Northside next year, or Purolator, etc. It's a blue collar city and if you can stand that type of work, you can make a lot of money, relative to the cost of living in Fayetteville...

There are a ton of black events in Fayetteville too, there's an HBCU, they just had a Black Barbecue fest, step shows, and yes, there is a high proliferation of clubs in The Ville. Most of them are garbage and seedy hole in the walls. There isn't a large arts scene in Fayetteville, again it's a working class, blue collar town, most cities like that aren't highly creative...

The low wages, crime rates, poor schools, and weaker economy keep it from being a great place for black people. But the strong black middle class, HBCU, black-oriented events, and ability to make good money make it a pretty good place to live black. Fayetteville has two hip hop stations for a metro of only ~530,000, I think it has two contemporary urban/R&B stations too, which are symbols of black presence in local media. It has a black mayor, has had a couple I think, and has black representation at the civic level...

It's not among the best places for black people, but it's a long way from the bottom. You'll hear more white people shyt on Fayetteville than anyone else---->there's plenty of white people in Fayetteville but to be honest, it's not that inviting of a city for them, that's more so Raleigh and other cities...

 

[UncleTomFord15]

I've been hearing for the past for years that NC is the real "black mecca" and not ATL. Which city in NC is the closet to NYC?

 

[Doobie Doo]

Rocky Mount.

 

[Doobie Doo]

I've been hearing for the past for years that NC is the real "black mecca" and not ATL. Which city in NC is the closet to NYC?

None to keep it real with you. But closest thing would be Charlotte since you are closer to Atlanta

 

[Tribal Outkast]

I’ve lived in Concord for 7 years. I have no problems with it.

 

[murksiderock]

My mom speaks highly of Raleigh. She literally mentioned it yesterday over the phone.

I'm more familiar with Charlotte though. Got some "family" out that way.

Did your mom used to live here?

It's a great city that's really inviting to everyone, the sense of blackness is strong as fukk here, and I definitely mean specifically black mobility and black success, which CERTAINLY isn't the case everywhere we are. Its an elite city to be black in!

Charlotte too bro, may be my favorite city in the entire nation. Charlotte is like that, very, very few weaknesses as a city. Outstanding place to live for black folk!

Definitely have roots in Rocky Mount. Use to go on summer vacation there as a child. All that slowed down after high school...you know how that go. I never heard anyone refer to it as the Rock. I guess you learn something everyday

"The Rock" is probably it's street nickname. I spent 4 weeks there in a hotel on work assignment in Summer 2019, rather than commute back and forth I just took the hotel. Rocky Mount has few redeeming qualities if you aren't connected to it previously...

I've been hearing for the past for years that NC is the real "black mecca" and not ATL. Which city in NC is the closet to NYC?

Charlotte is Baby Atlanta, so if you're looking for the city with the biggest city vibe in NC, it's Charlotte by a landslide. And that's one of the things I love about Charlotte, it's a true major city with major city events and entertainment...

If you're into big cities in general, Charlotte is the only place here you're going to get that vibe. Raleigh is more midsize but is strong for its weight class. I prefer Charlotte and would move back but I kinda got stuck here,, but as far as places to be stuck: you can do a whole lot worse than Raleigh ...

I’ve lived in Concord for 7 years. I have no problems with it.

Describe what it's like living black in Concord bro!

 

[Tribal Outkast]

Describe what it's like living black in Concord bro!

I mostly stick to certain parts of Concord like Concord Mills and parts near Kannapolis which is where I live. West Concord looks like an area that I don’t want to be in so I don’t go there. I’m mostly In Charlotte to hang out though.