Most African American cities in Illinois research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to analyze Illinois’s most recent Census data to determine the cities with the largest Black population, based on the percentage of Black residents.
The city with the largest African American population in Illinois is East St. Louis (92.6% Black); the least is Lake Bluff (0.0%). Statewide, Illinois is 13.3% Black — the 14th blackest state in the country.
Roughly 42 million people identifying as Black or African American live in the United States, about 12% of the total population. In Illinois, the Black population is 1,693,169, at 13.3% of the state total.
We broke down the most recent Census data to determine the cities in Illinois with the largest African American population in 2026.
#1 most African American in Illinois
Located in
St. Clair County, IllinoisEast St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. Once a bustling industrial center like many cities in the Rust Belt, East St. Louis has been severely affected by loss of jobs due to deindustrialization during the second half of the 20th century. In 1950, East St. Louis was the fourth largest city in Illinois when population peaked at 82,366. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 27,006, less than one-third of the 1950 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 most African American in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, IllinoisData | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 most African American in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, IllinoisDolton is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,153 at the 2010 census. Dolton is located just west of the expressway Interstate 94 and immediately south of the city limits of Chicago. Its most common ZIP code is 60419.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 most African American in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, IllinoisData | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 most African American in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, IllinoisData | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 most African American in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, IllinoisHazel Crest is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,100 at the 2010 census. The village is primarily located in Bremen Township, while the portion of the village south of 183rd Street is located in Rich Township and the portion east of I-80/94 is in Thornton Township. The village is located near Chicago in an area known as the Chicago Southland and is approximately 25 miles south of the Chicago Loop.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 most African American in Illinois
Located in
Will County, IllinoisUniversity Park is a village in Cook and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located almost entirely in Will County, University Park has been the home of Governors State University since 1969. The village population was 7,129 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 most African American in Illinois
Located in
Will County, IllinoisMatteson is a village in Cook and Will counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,928 at the 2000 census and 19,009 in 2010.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 most African American in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, IllinoisData | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 most African American in Illinois
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Illinois’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Illinois’s Black communities live
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Cities In Illinois With The Largest Black Population For 2026
We still believe in the accuracy of data — especially from the Census. So that’s where we went to get the race breakdown across Illinois.
That leads us to the Census’s most recently available data, the 2020-2024 American Community Survey data from the US Census.
Specifically, we looked at table B03002: Hispanic OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE. Here are the category names as defined by the Census:
- Hispanic or Latino
- White alone*
- Black or African American alone*
- American Indian and Alaska Native alone*
- Asian alone*
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone*
- Some other race alone*
- Two or more races*
Our particular column of interest was the number of people who identified as Black or African American.
We limited our analysis to non-CDPs with a population greater than 5,000 people in Illinois. That left us with 324 cities.
We then calculated the percentage of residents that are Black or African American. The percentages ranked from 92.6% to 0.0%.
Finally, we ranked each city based on the percentage of the Black population, with a higher score being more Black than a lower score. East St. Louis took the distinction of being the most Black, while Lake Bluff was the least African American city.
We updated this article for 2026. This is our eleventh time ranking the cities in Illinois with the largest African American population.
The full plate
African American Population By City In Illinois
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | African American Population | % African American |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East St. Louis | 17,999 | 16,670 | 92.6% |
| 2 | Riverdale | 10,340 | 9,296 | 89.9% |
| 3 | Dolton | 20,825 | 18,687 | 89.7% |
| 4 | Richton Park | 12,521 | 10,969 | 87.6% |
| 5 | Country Club Hills | 16,324 | 14,120 | 86.5% |
| 6 | Hazel Crest | 13,792 | 11,662 | 84.6% |
| 7 | University Park | 7,306 | 5,973 | 81.8% |
| 8 | Matteson | 18,645 | 14,873 | 79.8% |
| 9 | Calumet Park | 6,855 | 5,276 | 77.0% |
| 10 | Calumet City | 35,100 | 26,350 | 75.1% |
| 11 | South Holland | 20,911 | 15,661 | 74.9% |
| 12 | Glenwood | 8,603 | 6,087 | 70.8% |
| 13 | Markham | 11,355 | 7,994 | 70.4% |
| 14 | Bellwood | 18,256 | 12,349 | 67.6% |
| 15 | Park Forest | 21,156 | 14,254 | 67.4% |
| 16 | Lynwood | 9,083 | 6,078 | 66.9% |
| 17 | Sauk Village | 9,678 | 5,992 | 61.9% |
| 18 | Flossmoor | 9,391 | 5,588 | 59.5% |
| 19 | Broadview | 7,896 | 4,695 | 59.5% |
| 20 | Maywood | 23,201 | 12,774 | 55.1% |
| 21 | Harvey | 20,230 | 10,836 | 53.6% |
| 22 | Lansing | 28,284 | 14,532 | 51.4% |
| 23 | Hillside | 8,084 | 3,920 | 48.5% |
| 24 | Homewood | 19,294 | 8,315 | 43.1% |
| 25 | Chicago Heights | 26,736 | 10,765 | 40.3% |
| 26 | Kankakee | 23,996 | 9,556 | 39.8% |
| 27 | Crete | 8,386 | 3,262 | 38.9% |
| 28 | Danville | 28,595 | 9,781 | 34.2% |
| 29 | Belleville | 41,370 | 13,457 | 32.5% |
| 30 | Blue Island | 21,741 | 6,681 | 30.7% |
| 31 | Fairview Heights | 16,745 | 4,616 | 27.6% |
| 32 | Chicago | 2,711,226 | 743,710 | 27.4% |
| 33 | Chester | 6,797 | 1,859 | 27.4% |
| 34 | Carbondale | 22,158 | 5,831 | 26.3% |
| 35 | Berkeley | 5,199 | 1,362 | 26.2% |
| 36 | Peoria | 112,169 | 28,760 | 25.6% |
| 37 | Evergreen Park | 19,420 | 4,947 | 25.5% |
| 38 | Shiloh | 14,572 | 3,551 | 24.4% |
| 39 | Alsip | 18,583 | 4,507 | 24.3% |
| 40 | Forest Park | 13,943 | 3,351 | 24.0% |
| 41 | Pinckneyville | 5,018 | 1,194 | 23.8% |
| 42 | North Chicago | 30,643 | 7,265 | 23.7% |
| 43 | Decatur | 69,815 | 16,237 | 23.3% |
| 44 | Zion | 24,600 | 5,686 | 23.1% |
| 45 | Steger | 9,418 | 2,108 | 22.4% |
| 46 | East Moline | 20,904 | 4,314 | 20.6% |
| 47 | Westchester | 16,436 | 3,294 | 20.0% |
| 48 | Swansea | 14,710 | 2,827 | 19.2% |
| 49 | Rockford | 147,521 | 28,272 | 19.2% |
| 50 | Alton | 25,279 | 4,842 | 19.2% |
| 51 | Springfield | 113,330 | 21,697 | 19.1% |
| 52 | Urbana | 39,341 | 7,339 | 18.7% |
| 53 | Rantoul | 12,421 | 2,218 | 17.9% |
| 54 | Oak Park | 53,292 | 9,504 | 17.8% |
| 55 | Bolingbrook | 74,096 | 13,136 | 17.7% |
| 56 | Champaign | 89,996 | 15,455 | 17.2% |
| 57 | Justice | 12,324 | 2,106 | 17.1% |
| 58 | Waukegan | 89,076 | 14,749 | 16.6% |
| 59 | O’Fallon | 32,262 | 5,335 | 16.5% |
| 60 | Crestwood | 10,579 | 1,725 | 16.3% |
| 61 | Collinsville | 24,031 | 3,858 | 16.1% |
| 62 | Joliet | 150,445 | 24,069 | 16.0% |
| 63 | Murphysboro | 6,735 | 1,055 | 15.7% |
| 64 | Rock Island | 36,151 | 5,643 | 15.6% |
| 65 | Posen | 5,292 | 823 | 15.6% |
| 66 | Crest Hill | 20,628 | 3,092 | 15.0% |
| 67 | Freeport | 23,505 | 3,424 | 14.6% |
| 68 | Romeoville | 41,152 | 5,865 | 14.3% |
| 69 | Evanston | 76,340 | 10,830 | 14.2% |
| 70 | DeKalb | 40,443 | 5,587 | 13.8% |
| 71 | Galesburg | 29,481 | 3,780 | 12.8% |
| 72 | Hillsboro | 5,803 | 735 | 12.7% |
| 73 | Greenville | 7,235 | 892 | 12.3% |
| 74 | Mount Vernon | 14,090 | 1,545 | 11.0% |
| 75 | Beach Park | 14,115 | 1,533 | 10.9% |
| 76 | Normal | 53,569 | 5,794 | 10.8% |
| 77 | Aurora | 179,898 | 19,271 | 10.7% |
| 78 | Moline | 42,197 | 4,439 | 10.5% |
| 79 | Woodridge | 33,941 | 3,565 | 10.5% |
| 80 | Bloomington | 78,907 | 8,073 | 10.2% |
| 81 | Frankfort | 20,651 | 2,098 | 10.2% |
| 82 | Oswego | 36,375 | 3,689 | 10.1% |
| 83 | Dixon | 14,910 | 1,507 | 10.1% |
| 84 | Glendale Heights | 32,808 | 3,269 | 10.0% |
| 85 | Skokie | 66,219 | 6,592 | 10.0% |
| 86 | Vandalia | 5,796 | 568 | 9.8% |
| 87 | Macomb | 14,894 | 1,409 | 9.5% |
| 88 | Chicago Ridge | 14,099 | 1,329 | 9.4% |
| 89 | Midlothian | 13,948 | 1,304 | 9.3% |
| 90 | Bourbonnais | 18,078 | 1,679 | 9.3% |
| 91 | Glen Carbon | 13,977 | 1,297 | 9.3% |
| 92 | Pontiac | 11,294 | 1,038 | 9.2% |
| 93 | Plainfield | 46,708 | 4,220 | 9.0% |
| 94 | Granite City | 26,549 | 2,369 | 8.9% |
| 95 | Robinson | 7,084 | 615 | 8.7% |
| 96 | Oak Lawn | 56,861 | 4,916 | 8.6% |
| 97 | Grayslake | 20,929 | 1,784 | 8.5% |
| 98 | North Riverside | 7,249 | 613 | 8.5% |
| 99 | Pontoon Beach | 6,025 | 508 | 8.4% |
| 100 | North Aurora | 18,696 | 1,560 | 8.3% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 324 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Black Populations Across Illinois
If you’re looking for a breakdown of African American populations across Illinois according to the most recent data, this is an accurate list.
The blackest cities in Illinois are East St. Louis, Riverdale, Dolton, Richton Park, Country Club Hills, Hazel Crest, University Park, Matteson, Calumet Park, and Calumet City. Not sold on Illinois? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
