United States › District of Columbia
District of Columbia
The state entry: 285,810 Black residents, 41.4% of the state, in the published 2020 count.
Washington holds about 490,000 Black residents — Black alone or in combination — roughly one in sixteen of its people, with Black alone at about 295,000, or 3.8 percent. The population is a Puget Sound population: Seattle's historic Central District and its south-end successor districts, Tacoma's Hilltop, and the military corridor between them hold the great majority, with Spokane and the Tri-Cities carrying the eastern layer. This article profiles the state population; the Seattle metro receives its own profile in the cities section.
Civic Snapshot
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total population, 2020 | 689,545 |
| Black residents (alone), 2020 | 285,810 |
| Black share of the state, 2020 | 41.4% |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Redistricting File (Public Law 94-171), Table P1 (race). Trend: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Redistricting File (Public Law 94-171), Table P1.
Population Trend
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, the Black population of District of Columbia declined from 305,125 to 285,810 (-6.3%), and its share of the whole moved from 50.7% to 41.4%.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Redistricting File (Public Law 94-171), Table P1 (race). Trend: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Redistricting File (Public Law 94-171), Table P1.
The Record
Seattle's community — treated fully in the city profile — anchors the state: a Central District that fell from roughly 70 percent Black in the 1960s to under a fifth today under the region's appreciation, its population re-formed in the Rainier Valley and the south suburbs (SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, Kent, Federal Way), where the metro's Black majority now lives. The Eastside records small but growing shares; Everett and the Snohomish corridor (the Boeing plants' historic labor market) hold an established community. The metro's Black population totals roughly 300,000, and its data present the Pacific pattern's sharpest version: among the most educated Black populations in the nation in the aggregate tables, against the Central District's displacement curve and the south-end tracts' difficult indicators, within one county.
Institutions
The institutions of Black District of Columbia — its congregations, schools, businesses, and civic organizations — are carried in the county and place entries beneath this state entry, where the gazetteer records them place by place. This state page is the frame: 285,810 Black residents in 1 counties and county equivalents and 1 incorporated places and census-designated places in the published counts.