CATFISHGUMBO
A Gazetteer of Black America

United States › Tennessee › Shelby County

Shelby County, Tennessee

477,321 Black residents · 51.3% of the county · ranked 1 of 95 in Tennessee by Black population

In Shelby County, Tennessee, the 2020 Census counted 929,744 people, 477,321 of them Black alone. At 51.3%, Shelby County's Black share stands against the state's 15.8% — the comparison this entry is built around.

MEVTNHWAIDMTNDMNWIMINYMAORNVWYSDIAILINOHPANJCTRICAUTCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGATXFLAKHIBlack share of state population — Tennessee highlighted — legend:30% and over20–29%12–19%6–11%Under 6%info@blackamericadata.comatlasmont.com
Black share of state population — Tennessee highlighted — the state in the national tile map, shaded by the Black share of each state's population. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census (PL 94-171), Table P1.

Civic Snapshot

MeasureFigure
Total population, 2020929,744
Black residents (alone), 2020477,321
Black share of the county, 202051.3%
Rank by Black population among Tennessee counties1 of 95

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

In 2010 Shelby County counted 483,381 Black residents; in 2020 it counted 477,321. The population declined by 1.3% across the decade, and the Black share in Shelby County moved from 52.1% to 51.3%.

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 state's Black population of 1.1 million is spread across 95 counties and county equivalents; Shelby County holds 477,321 of it, rank 1 in the state's order. The county page for Shelby County carries the published redistricting counts unaltered, and the place pages beneath it carry the detail.

Institutions

Black Shelby County's institutions live at the scale of its towns and communities, and the gazetteer records them there, place by place. The Shelby County page holds the frame around them — 929,744 people in all, 477,321 of them Black — and the trend that runs through both censuses.