Best Cities For Black People In...Part III: NEW YORK

[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!

Parts I-II featured Virginia and North Carolina, linked below:

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

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...

www.thecoli.com

Best Cities For Black People In...Part II: VIRGINIA

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...

www.thecoli.com

Part III, 20 largest cities in NY and their black residency percentage, with the asterisk that I thought it would be more interesting to count the boroughs of NYC as separate cities unto themselves:

Mount Vernon 60.7%

Rochester 38.4%
Buffalo 36%
Bronx 31.7%

Syracuse 29.3%
Albany 29.3%
Brooklyn 28.1%
Niagara Falls 22.2%
Schenectady 20.5%

New Rochelle 19%
Troy 17.8%
Queens 16.9%
Yonkers 16.7%
Utica 16.4%

Binghamton 13.2%
Manhattan 13.1%
White Plains 11.8%
Nassau 11.1%
Staten Island 10.1%

Suffolk 7.3%

 

[murksiderock]

So in NY, I only lived in two places, Albany and Elmira. Elmira was terrible in the moment but in hindsight, it wasn't so bad. There are things I miss about it as I've gotten older, but it is way at the bottom of great places to live being black...

Elmira is a tiny city near the PA border in NY's Southern Tier. For reference, it's about ~13.4% black...

Albany was more fun and is a strong city for its weight class (~900,000 people in its metro). Really diverse as are most NY cities, decent shopping for its size but Alb is small though. It can get boring quickly...

I would say it's a good city for black people, among the best in the state, with a strong black middle class but high black poverty as well, which is the case in most NY cities. Black folk are engaged at the civic level in NY but not to the degree I've seen in many southern cities. Still you have representation in Alb, it is a comfortable city to live black in...

I had the most fun in NY in the cities I didn't live in, particularly Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton, Ithaca, and Syracuse. All five, I frequented alot, I had connections in all and enjoyed my time in those cities. I almost moved to each one at least once, and I kind of wish I did in retrospect, but there was always some goofy shyt that postponed the move (issue with girlfriend or going to jail were the main reasons)...

I love Central and Western NY, for me those are the only areas of NY I'd return to if I could handle yhe economy and weather (I can't). Beautiful areas, plenty of nature and to me NY may be the best state in the country for its nature and things to do outside. You don't find a ton of black people in rural areas in NY but the cities, here are some of my takeaways:

•NY cities are very segregated and there is stronger racism in NY than in most areas NYers try to shyt on for racism. White people in NY typically don't think they can be racist, they think they are too liberal and all have black friends and family, but opposing views of black people come out hard and often depending on the topic at hand (welfare, jobs, dating, crime, etc). Some of the most racist white people I ever met anywhere are native New Yorkers;

•on the segregation part, blacks and Latinos are integrated but typically speaking, white people do not want to live around us, this is true in NYC too;

•NY cities have such crippling black poverty it hurts your heart. There are middle class black areas in all the sizable cities, but nowhere near what you see in Southern cities. Like it's not even close. You can grow up in NY and only rarely see examples of black people who are well off or even comfortable, it's saddening. NYC is different in the sense no city is it's size---->LA is the second biggest city in the US and is only half the size of NY, so for sheer volume you see comfortable and well off black folk in NYC, but the ratio I would guess is still lower than you see in most big Southern cities, but a higher ratio than you see Upstate; blacks are doing better in The Boroughs;

•NY cities are a hell of a good time, though. Lots and lots of shyt to see and do. Of course, if you're coming from The City, all the Upstate cities look wack, but if you're coming from most anywhere else abd you compare NY cities to similarly-sized cities around the nation, they compare well I'm terms of entertainment...

Someone black looking to move to NY, I would suggest all the bigger cities, but I'd tell them to get ready for the liberal racism and for the huge swaths of black poverty. Generally, in NY, the larger the city, the better it will be for us, as black New Yorkers are city dwellers. There are better options down south but again depending on what you like, NY may be your spot...

I have only been to Manhattan in NYC and enjoyed it but don't need to go back. It was way too dirty for my liking, and that's saying something because all the Upstate cities were dirty . I do have a fetish to see Queens one day, I was told by different people at different times that I have a Queens soul/vibe/aura about me. Probably because I know how to get to the money ...

Others can explain The Boroughs and what they are for black people in more depth, and I can explain some Upstate locations more in depth as the thread progresses...

 

[murksiderock]

.

 

[FrontoBama]

You author any books, brother?
You certainly can write.

Albany is great, man. I’m sure you know, there’s a kind of Black community up there spread between Albany, Troy and Greenbush and Blacks up there kinda know they all they got.

I think Rochester and Syracuse are great cities in general not specifically for Blacks as in my experience the Black community in both of those cities is more tied to their respective city cultures rather than an overarching Black one. I used to party up there heavy and a lot of them nikkas childhood friends are white, which was always strange to me. Albany/Troy nah.

Gotta say you’re completely off base with regard to Black poverty since we’re some of the most well-off Blacks nationwide + the only place where Black median income beats whites but in fairness if you’re in Albany there’s definitrly a lot of that, same thing with Suffolk County downstate- alot of generational poverty.

You should try to make it downstate next time. Black millionaire mansion neighborhoods in Queens and Nassau. shyt, Im from Brooklyn and it’s mansions in my hood owned by Blacks west of Ocean ave and in NYC our Black areas are REALLY BLACK ASF..Even with gentrification Flatbush/Crown Heights/Brownsville corridor is 75-80%

A Guide to the Mansions of Victorian Flatbush in Brooklyn - Untapped New York

Discover the most impressive Victorian mansions of Flatbush, which you will see on our expert-led walking tour of the Brooklyn neighborhood!

untappedcities.com

 

[BigMan]

Long Island Westchester Rockland County and the lower Hudson river valley counties are the best NY suburbs for black folks

 

[murksiderock]

You author any books, brother?
You certainly can write.

Albany is great, man. I’m sure you know, there’s a kind of Black community up there spread between Albany, Troy and Greenbush and Blacks up there kinda know they all they got.

I think Rochester and Syracuse are great cities in general not specifically for Blacks as in my experience the Black community in both of those cities is more tied to their respective city cultures rather than an overarching Black one. I used to party up there heavy and a lot of them nikkas childhood friends are white, which was always strange to me. Albany/Troy nah.

Gotta say you’re completely off base with regard to Black poverty since we’re some of the most well-off Blacks nationwide + the only place where Black median income beats whites but in fairness if you’re in Albany there’s definitrly a lot of that, same thing with Suffolk County downstate- alot of generational poverty.

You should try to make it downstate next time. Black millionaire mansion neighborhoods in Queens and Nassau. shyt, Im from Brooklyn and it’s mansions in my hood owned by Blacks west of Ocean ave and in NYC our Black areas are REALLY BLACK ASF..Even with gentrification Flatbush/Crown Heights/Brownsville corridor is 75-80%

A Guide to the Mansions of Victorian Flatbush in Brooklyn - Untapped New York

Discover the most impressive Victorian mansions of Flatbush, which you will see on our expert-led walking tour of the Brooklyn neighborhood!

untappedcities.com

Yeah that Albany/Troy/Greenbush/Rensselaer stretch is very connected. I really enjoyed Albany...

Good look on the clarification with black wealth in NYC. It's different Upstate, though. Like Schenec is right I'm the same metro as Alb and is very much impoverished, when you run thru places in Cuse/Roc/Buff, there are definitely middle class black areas but there are alot of impoverished black hoods...

I fukk with Central and WNY though. That liberal white NY racism ain't the wave for me, but I fukk with NY overall. And yeah I definitely gotta make it back to The City, I wanna see Queens bad...

As far as The Boroughs, Westchester, and Long Island, what is the experience like for black people? Which one would you say is the worst, Staten Island? I know there are no real majority black neighborhoods there and they say Harlem is no longer majority black...

 

[FrontoBama]

Yeah that Albany/Troy/Greenbush/Rensselaer stretch is very connected. I really enjoyed Albany...

Good look on the clarification with black wealth in NYC. It's different Upstate, though. Like Schenec is right I'm the same metro as Alb and is very much impoverished, when you run thru places in Cuse/Roc/Buff, there are definitely middle class black areas but there are alot of impoverished black hoods...

I fukk with Central and WNY though. That liberal white NY racism ain't the wave for me, but I fukk with NY overall. And yeah I definitely gotta make it back to The City, I wanna see Queens bad...

As far as The Boroughs, Westchester, and Long Island, what is the experience like for black people? Which one would you say is the worst, Staten Island? I know there are no real majority black neighborhoods there and they say Harlem is no longer majority black...

A lot of well off Blacks from Queens and Brooklyn move to Nassau County (LI). It’s like another Great Migration. Freeport, Baldwin Harbor,Rockville Centre corridor is reminiscent of generic Upper-middle class Black suburbs of Atlanta if you know what I mean. cookie cutter mini mansions and flip flops on the driveway typeshyt.

I don’t know of anything similar in Staten Island..Any black person I’ve ever met from there was living in Pittsburgh/Cleveland type depressing poverty. Like, a nikka in the projects in The Bronx can go to school with dudes that are gonna go to Fordam, NYU…I don’t think if you live in like Stapleton or some shyt that’s realistic.

Harlem is still predominantly Black but is by far the most gentrified black area. I’m at Allah School twice weekly and walking to the train u definitely see “diversity”

 

[Mashal88]

Nassau is 11% black but it doesn't really tell the story. Long Island is just very segregated. Just like NYC. Real estate folks will steer you away from the whiter areas so as to keep them very white. Just me doing quick research and what I've observed in certain areas.

Like for example. If you keep going West in Nassau towards Queens you'll pass through Franklin Square and get to Elmont, which is very black. But Franklin Square itself is 75% white and 10% asian with small popupation of black and latino. You go North to Garden City, Mineola, New Hyde Park etc same story.

Hempstead, Uniondale, Baldwin, Roosevelt, Elmont, etc are all very black. Homeowners, middle class, quiet neighborhoods. Roosevelt is a bit rundown though. And Hempstead does have projects on Terrace. Freeport also has a strong black population. It's definitely different from the others I mentioned as those areas are top demographics represented by black/latino. Freeport has black and white as top 2 demographics. Westbury has a solid black population as well.

If you looked on the map and asked me about certain towns I could flat out tell you what demographics dominate. Just how long island is. But really. If white people don't want us to live around them. That's fine. We have our neighborhoods and we can continue elevating them.

Best I can out together my thoughts for now.

 

[BigMan]

Yeah that Albany/Troy/Greenbush/Rensselaer stretch is very connected. I really enjoyed Albany...

Good look on the clarification with black wealth in NYC. It's different Upstate, though. Like Schenec is right I'm the same metro as Alb and is very much impoverished, when you run thru places in Cuse/Roc/Buff, there are definitely middle class black areas but there are alot of impoverished black hoods...

I fukk with Central and WNY though. That liberal white NY racism ain't the wave for me, but I fukk with NY overall. And yeah I definitely gotta make it back to The City, I wanna see Queens bad...

As far as The Boroughs, Westchester, and Long Island, what is the experience like for black people? Which one would you say is the worst, Staten Island? I know there are no real majority black neighborhoods there and they say Harlem is no longer majority black...

there are actually quite a few black neighborhoods in SI and middle class black folks too. check out the North Shore

 

[murksiderock]

there are actually quite a few black neighborhoods in SI and middle class black folks too. check out the North Shore

Would you say they are as desirable as black areas in the other boroughs, though? Or Westchester?

 

[Unknown Poster]

I lived between Brooklyn and Queens for years...NYC is the blackest city i ever lived in.

I miss it.

 

[Devil Plisken…CMS]

It is what it is

 

[murksiderock]

It is what it is

Which borough are you from? What are the best places for black people in NY to you?

 

[Devil Plisken…CMS]

Which borough are you from? What are the best places for black people in NY to you?

I’m from Brooklyn but I’ve been in Manhattan for years. This will always be the place for young black people trying to do things bigger than themselves because there’s always going to be someone super young here doing something great.

It’s super expensive across the board but The Bronx & Brooklyn not as much. Lots of culture and forward thinking people

You go up & down Lenox ave on a summer day and see all types of people o doing their thing enjoying themselves

Nothing like it

 

[UberEatsDriver]

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!

Parts I-II featured Virginia and North Carolina, linked below:

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

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...

www.thecoli.com

Best Cities For Black People In...Part II: VIRGINIA

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...

www.thecoli.com

Part III, 20 largest cities in NY and their black residency percentage, with the asterisk that I thought it would be more interesting to count the boroughs of NYC as separate cities unto themselves:

Mount Vernon 60.7%

Rochester 38.4%
Buffalo 36%
Bronx 31.7%

Syracuse 29.3%
Albany 29.3%
Brooklyn 28.1%
Niagara Falls 22.2%
Schenectady 20.5%

New Rochelle 19%
Troy 17.8%
Queens 16.9%
Yonkers 16.7%
Utica 16.4%

Binghamton 13.2%
Manhattan 13.1%
White Plains 11.8%
Nassau 11.1%
Staten Island 10.1%

Suffolk 7.3%

Upstate NY similar to the Midwest is mostly sh*thole after shythole.

Westchester County and Rockland County are good for blacks except Mt. Vernon. One of the wealthiest black communities in America is located in Rockland County


Moving on to the boroughs.

Queens - queens is one of the most successful geographical locations for blacks and well documented.

Bronx - home of many middle class Jamaicans and Guyanese. Africans and African Americans here tend to move to upstate nyc metro counties when they climb the ladder (AAs move down south too)

Harlem - being gentrified but black owned businesses are still opening up here everyday.

Brooklyn - lots of good areas for West Indians. AAs here either own a brownstone, leave the city and go to the burbs or go back down south.

Staten Island - the black community here in my opinion is a sh*thole.