May 2025
California is home to a very large and diverse immigrant population, including Black immigrants. Understanding the demographic, social, and economic realities of California’s Black immigrant communities is essential to advancing racial and immigrant justice statewide. The interactive charts on this webpage provide data statewide to support the lived experiences of Black immigrants. By making this data accessible, we hope to strengthen the work of advocates and community leaders, supporting their efforts to challenge inequities, push for transformative policies, and uplift the voices of Black immigrants across California.
Black immigrants live in communities across the state of California.
Among 2.8 million
Black Californians,
about 218,000 (8%)
are immigrants.
Nearly 1 in 4 Black
residents are either immigrants or children
of immigrants.
Los Angeles, San Diego, Alameda, Riverside, and Santa Clara Counties are home to the largest populations of Black immigrants statewide. Data on cities shows that most Black immigrant communities live in cities with large immigrant populations such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose, and San Francisco.
Many Black immigrants now living in California are long settled, while others have recently arrived in the U.S. Black immigrants from Central America and the Caribbean are more likely to be long settled while Black immigrant Californians originating from Africa are more likely to have arrived more recently to the U.S.
Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire have larger proportions of those long settled, while San Diego County and the Bay Area have larger proportions of newly arrived Black immigrant communities.
Black immigrants come from many different places and speak a host of different languages.
The Black diaspora is diverse and includes those coming from regions within Africa, as well as the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico. Nigeria, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Kenya, and Belize are the top countries of origin among Black immigrants living in California.
Many Black immigrants speak a language other than English. Languages from the Niger-Congo regions, Spanish, Amharic/Ethiopian, French, and Swahili are some of the top languages spoken by California’s Black immigrants.
One in 10 Black immigrant households are linguistically isolated, meaning that no one ages 14 and older speaks English very well. About 1 in 5 East African immigrant households are linguistically isolated, the highest rate among Black immigrants. Additionally, about 2,700 “English learner” students in k-12 schools spoke a language from a Black majority country during the 2023-2024 school year.
Black immigrants hold many different kinds of status. While many are naturalized citizens, other are lawful permanent residents, undocumented, or students or H1B visa holders.
Additionally, many live in "mixed-status" families. For example, among Black families living in California, over 121,000 members are undocumented or live with an undocumented family member.
In addition to navigating the U.S.’s complex immigration system, newly arrived Black immigrants also face systemic racism and racial discrimination. For more, see a 2022 report on the violence and abuse of Black migrants in immigrant detention, a 2021 report on the impact of anti-Black racism on African migrants at U.S.-Mexico border, and a report on the presence of immigration agents and surveillance during the 2020 uprisings.
18 percent of Black immigrants in California work in the healthcare industry as healthcare practitioners, technical professionals, and support staff.
8 percent of Black immigrants in California lack health insurance. When disaggregated by immigration status, about 23 percent of undocumented Black immigrants and 16 percent of lawful permanent Black immigrant residents lack health insurance.
This interactive data tool was created by the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) in partnership with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI).
Core Project Team:
Khia Duncan, Sabrina Kim, and Joanna Lee (USC Equity Research Institute)
Metzlal Ocbazghi and Abraham Paulos (Black Alliance for Just Immigration)
Thank you to Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, The James Irvine Foundation, and Sobrato Philanthropies for your support of this project.
Additional Resources:
Criminalizing Blackness: An analysis of the impacts of the 1994 Crime Bill and 1996 Immigration Bill on Black people and Policy Recommendations to Address the Harms Caused
Our Vision Our Stories: Gender in Black Immigrant Communities
BAJI leads letter to Biden and DHS urging collection of race data
Methodology (click to expand)
Although a variety of data sources were used, much of our analysis is based on a unique dataset created using microdata samples (i.e., “individual-level” data) from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), for five points in time: 1980, 1990, 2000, 2006 to 2010 pooled together and 2019 to 2023 pooled together. While the 1980 through 2000 files are based on the decennial census and cover about 5 percent of the U.S. population each, the 2010 and 2023 files are from the American Community Survey and each cover about 1 percent of the population. Five years of ACS data were pooled together to improve the statistical reliability and to achieve a sample size that is comparable to that available in previous years. Survey weights were adjusted as necessary to produce estimates that represent an average over the 2006 to 2010 and 2019 to 2023 periods.
A note on sample size
While the IPUMS microdata allows for the tabulation of detailed population characteristics, it is important to keep in mind that because such tabulations are based on samples, they are subject to a margin of error and should be regarded as estimates— particularly in smaller regions and for smaller demographic subgroups. To avoid reporting highly unreliable estimates, we do not report estimates that are based on a universe of fewer than 100 individual survey respondents.
Geographies
State: California
County: Los Angeles, San Diego, Alameda, Riverside, Santa Clara, San Bernardino, Sacramento, Orange, Contra Costa, San Francisco.
Sub-County: Inland Empire(Riverside & San Bernardino) and the Bay Area (Alameda, Solano, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Francisco)
City or place: Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, Inglewood, Moreno Valley, Long Beach, Riverside.
Data provided on this webpage is available for some geographies but not all. Geographies defined within the Decennial Census and ACS microdata pull on samples of at least 100,000 people or PUMAS. Due to the weighted and unweighted sample size of some geographies, not all socio-economic indicators are available at the county level and regional data.
Categorizing People by Race, Nativity, and Ancestry
Race
We rely on the U.S. Census Bureau’s categorizations for racial and ethnic groupings, please see our categorizations by race on the California Immigrant Data Portal methodology notes. For this project, we provided data based on two distinct categorizations of Black communities, both based on individual responses to census surveys. For the first categorization, we use a multi-racial approach which includes those reporting being Black or African American and include those reporting being Black and at least one other racial group on the census. This definition also includes those reporting being “Hispanic or Latino” as an ethnicity. For the second categorization, which is used for some of the economic and housing data in this project that compares Black immigrants with other communities, includes those reporting “Black or African American” as their sole racial identity. Source notes below the charts indicate whether data are for multracial/multiethnic Black populations or for those reporting a single race. In offering two classifications of “Black” in this analysis, we acknowledge the many frictions that emerge between individual self-identification, and the broader universe of social meanings and structural inequities. Another note: Changes in the way race and ethnicity were coded during the 2020 decennial census, as well as increased individual reporting,contributed to an increase in the reported multiracial population living in the United States. In 2020, 7.1 percent of survey respondents identified as Black alone or in combination living in the state of California, higher than in the previous decade.
Nativity
“U.S.-born” refers to all people who identify as being born in the United States (including U.S. territories and outlying areas), or born abroad of at least one U.S. citizen parent. “immigrant” and “foreign born” refers to all people who identify as being born abroad, outside of the United States, of non-U.S. citizen parents.
Ancestry
Ancestry refers to a person(s) self-reported ancestry or ethnic origin. While the ancestry groups often reflect (and likely are consistent with) countries or origin, it is important to note that they are actually based on reported ancestry. This was done so that comparisons could be made between the U.S.-born and immigrant populations within a given group. Ancestry data is captured through birthplace data for all Black immigrants to better understand the top countries and regions where Black immigrants living in California originated from. Data by ancestry was also tabulated to be consistent with the mutually exclusive racial groups described above. The ancestral groups broken out for each broad racial/ethnic group are based on the first response to the census question on the respondents birthplace, recorded in the IPUMS USA variable “BPL” using the detailed categories.
Estimating the Undocumented Population
Some of the data in this project are disaggregated by immigration status, including undocumented, lawful permanent residents, H1-B Visa holders, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, and naturalized U.S. citizens. Among these different statuses, only naturalized U.S. citizenship is self-reported while all the others are estimated following an approach developed by Professor Manuel Pastor at the USC Equity Research Institute. We estimate the undocumented population by applying a series of conditions and probability estimates to individual observations in the American Community Survey (ACS). This analysis is also used to estimate those with H1-B visas, TPS holders, and DACA recipients. In our analysis, we breakdown the population of Black immigrants by status and mixed-status families with at least one Black family member by status across all geographies. For more detail on the methodology, see here.
Mixed status families
Mixed status families are defined as residents who are undocumented or living with one or more undocumented family members. For this indicator we first identified family units with at least one Black family member which is different from the methodology we use to identify mixed-status families on our data portal. We structured the analysis this way because the removal of immigrants who are undocumented impacts not only the person being removed, but the entire family unit itself which might include Black family members of varying statuses. We then identified residents within these households who are undocumented, some of whom may not be Black. For estimating undocumented populations we use the estimates described in the section above. The total estimate for those living in mixed-status families includes the following:
Undocumented Black residents and undocumented immigrants from other racial groups living with at least one Black family member
U.S. citizens of any race living with at least one undocumented Black family member and Black U.S. citizens living with at least one undocumented family member of any race; and
Lawful Residents of any race living with at least one undocumented Black family member and Black Lawful Residents living with at least one undocumented family member of any race.
Estimates of immigrants and their children
For estimating immigrants and their “second-generation” children, we used the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement data (commonly referred to as the “March supplement”), accessed through IPUMS. Three years of CPS data from the March supplement were pooled together to improve the statistical reliability and to achieve a sample size that is comparable to that available in previous years. Survey weights were adjusted as necessary to produce estimates that represent an average over the 2021 through 2023 periods. Due to data availability, we used metropolitan-level data for Bay Area which includes a larger geographic scope than defined above: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties (and does not include Solano County).
Median household income
We calculate the median household income by nativity using the IPUMS variable “HHINCOME” from the 2023 American Community Survey 5-year samples. This variable includes all money income of household members ages 15 and above. Universe includes all households not in group quarters.
Healthcare Coverage
The percentage of people without health insurance by nativity was calculated using IPUMS variables (“HCOVPRIV” and “HCOVPUB”) from the 2023 American Community Survey 5-year samples. Those considered “insured” have public and or private health insurance which includes employed-provided, privately-purchased, medicare, medicaid or other governmental insurance, TRICARE or other military care, or Veterans Administration-provided insurance. This does not include coverage from the Indian Health Services as IHS policies are not always comprehensive.
Poverty
The percentage of people below 150 percent of the federal poverty level by nativity was calculated using the IPUMS “POVERTY” variable from the 2023 American Community Survey 5-year samples. Universe includes all people whose poverty status is determined (excludes group quarters). The federal poverty threshold in 2023 for a family of four with two children was about $27,740 (thus, 150 percent of the federal poverty threshold was about $41,610). For poverty Guidelines provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, see here for further details.
For more on other social and economic data not described here, please see the methodology pages on the California immigrant Data Portal (CIDP).