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Florida
The state entry: 3.2 million Black residents, 15.1% of the state, in the published 2020 count.
Florida holds the second-largest Black population of any state. The decennial census counted about 3.7 million Black Floridians — Black alone or in combination — roughly 17 percent of the state's population, with Black alone at about 3.2 million, or 15 percent. Unlike the other large Black states in this series, Florida has no single dominant Black metropolis; its population is distributed across four major metropolitan regions and a historically Black rural north, and it includes the largest Haitian community in the United States. This article profiles the population in the census data.
Civic Snapshot
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total population, 2020 | 21,538,187 |
| Black residents (alone), 2020 | 3,246,381 |
| Black share of the state, 2020 | 15.1% |
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 Florida grew from 2,999,862 to 3,246,381 (+8.2%), and its share of the whole moved from 16.0% to 15.1%.
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
The distribution begins in the north. Jacksonville, the state's largest city by population within its consolidated city-county, is roughly 30 percent Black and anchors the northeast. Rural North Florida and the Panhandle — the state's plantation belt in the nineteenth century — include counties such as Gadsden, the only Florida county with a Black majority population, where shares run far above the state figure. Central Florida's Orlando and Tampa Bay metros each hold Black populations in the several hundred thousands, suburban in character and fast-growing. South Florida holds the state's largest concentration: Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties together count well over a million Black residents, split between long-established African American communities and the Caribbean diaspora.
Institutions
For the institutions of Black Florida, read downward: the gazetteer carries them in its county and place entries, place by place. This page frames the whole — 3.2 million Black residents, 67 counties and county equivalents, 955 incorporated and census-designated places, all in the published counts.