Largest Combined Statistical Areas by Diversity Index, 2024:

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Yeah, Philadelphia's black population has remained remarkably stable since the 1970s, while Detroit's started to rapidly plummet after the 2000 census.

Philadelphia Black non-Hispanic pop. per census

1970: 648,887
1980: 633,079
1990: 623,132
2000: 646,476
2010: 643,975
2020: 614,254


Detroit Black non-Hispanic pop. per census

1970: 660,518
1980: 754,512
1990: 775,092
2000: 772,431
2010: 586,725
2020: 493,394

I may also speculate that perhaps Philly benefits from being between two expensive cities/metros, NY and DC, in its urban MidAtlantic corridor. So perhaps it gets Blacks that want to stay in the urban MidAtlantic/Northeast but have been priced out of NYC and DC. Or Blacks considering migrating to the NE/MidAtlantic, such as some Caribbeans and Africans, but can't afford NYC and DC.