Most African American cities in Missouri research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to analyze Missouri’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 Missouri is Jennings (89.0% Black); the least is Carl Junction (0.0%). Statewide, Missouri is 10.9% Black — the 19th 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 Missouri, the Black population is 673,780, at 10.9% of the state total.
We broke down the most recent Census data to determine the cities in Missouri with the largest African American population in 2026.
#1 most African American in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 most African American in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 most African American in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Bellefontaine Neighbors is an inner-ring suburb city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 10,860 at the 2010 census. At 22 letters, it has the longest name of any incorporated place in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 most African American in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Berkeley is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,978 at the 2010 census. Portions of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport are within the city limits.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 most African American in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Ferguson is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. The population was 21,203 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
#6 most African American in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Florissant ) is a second-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in northern St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The city had a total population of 52,158 in the 2010 census, making it the 12th-largest city in Missouri.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 most African American in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis city, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city and major U.S. port in the state of Missouri, built along the western bank of the Mississippi River, on the border with Illinois. The city had an estimated 2016 population of 311,404, and is the cultural and economic center of the Greater St. Louis area, making it the largest metropolitan area in Missouri and the 19th-largest in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
#8 most African American in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 most African American in Missouri
Located in
Jackson County, Missouri
Raytown is a city in Jackson County, Missouri, United States, and is a suburb of Kansas City. The population was at 29,526 in 2010 census. The mayor of Raytown is Michael McDonough.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 most African American in Missouri
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Missouri’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Missouri’s Black communities live
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Cities In Missouri 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 Missouri.
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 Missouri. That left us with 121 cities.
We then calculated the percentage of residents that are Black or African American. The percentages ranked from 89.0% 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. Jennings took the distinction of being the most Black, while Carl Junction was the least African American city.
We updated this article for 2026. This is our eleventh time ranking the cities in Missouri with the largest African American population.
The full plate
African American Population By City In Missouri
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | African American Population | % African American |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jennings | 12,918 | 11,491 | 89.0% |
| 2 | Black Jack | 6,589 | 5,845 | 88.7% |
| 3 | Bellefontaine Neighbors | 10,498 | 8,834 | 84.1% |
| 4 | Berkeley | 8,123 | 6,416 | 79.0% |
| 5 | Ferguson | 18,213 | 12,510 | 68.7% |
| 6 | Florissant | 51,773 | 22,732 | 43.9% |
| 7 | St. Louis | 288,512 | 121,473 | 42.1% |
| 8 | Hazelwood | 25,114 | 10,181 | 40.5% |
| 9 | Raytown | 29,445 | 10,844 | 36.8% |
| 10 | St. John | 6,527 | 2,366 | 36.2% |
| 11 | Grandview | 26,527 | 8,581 | 32.3% |
| 12 | University City | 34,685 | 10,705 | 30.9% |
| 13 | Overland | 15,695 | 4,241 | 27.0% |
| 14 | Caruthersville | 5,326 | 1,435 | 26.9% |
| 15 | Kansas City | 510,612 | 128,681 | 25.2% |
| 16 | St. Ann | 12,811 | 3,139 | 24.5% |
| 17 | Bridgeton | 11,369 | 2,697 | 23.7% |
| 18 | Sikeston | 16,320 | 3,478 | 21.3% |
| 19 | Olivette | 8,645 | 1,396 | 16.1% |
| 20 | Jefferson City | 42,488 | 6,778 | 16.0% |
| 21 | Maryland Heights | 27,880 | 3,720 | 13.3% |
| 22 | Cape Girardeau | 40,344 | 5,313 | 13.2% |
| 23 | Columbia | 128,548 | 15,524 | 12.1% |
| 24 | Kennett | 10,196 | 1,135 | 11.1% |
| 25 | Bonne Terre | 6,683 | 740 | 11.1% |
| 26 | Independence | 121,740 | 12,948 | 10.6% |
| 27 | Maplewood | 8,156 | 832 | 10.2% |
| 28 | Lee’s Summit | 103,656 | 9,971 | 9.6% |
| 29 | Shrewsbury | 6,316 | 606 | 9.6% |
| 30 | Boonville | 7,689 | 709 | 9.2% |
| 31 | Poplar Bluff | 16,254 | 1,479 | 9.1% |
| 32 | Raymore | 24,526 | 2,152 | 8.8% |
| 33 | Clayton | 17,380 | 1,510 | 8.7% |
| 34 | Creve Coeur | 18,643 | 1,577 | 8.5% |
| 35 | Moberly | 13,526 | 1,124 | 8.3% |
| 36 | Fulton | 12,617 | 1,040 | 8.2% |
| 37 | Belton | 25,008 | 2,050 | 8.2% |
| 38 | Blue Springs | 59,965 | 4,797 | 8.0% |
| 39 | Valley Park | 6,795 | 521 | 7.7% |
| 40 | Richmond Heights | 9,153 | 672 | 7.3% |
| 41 | St. Charles | 71,508 | 5,179 | 7.2% |
| 42 | Cameron | 8,519 | 615 | 7.2% |
| 43 | Gladstone | 27,207 | 1,914 | 7.0% |
| 44 | Mexico | 11,477 | 787 | 6.9% |
| 45 | Pacific | 7,475 | 503 | 6.7% |
| 46 | Wentzville | 47,061 | 3,114 | 6.6% |
| 47 | St. Joseph | 71,236 | 4,650 | 6.5% |
| 48 | Kirksville | 17,563 | 1,119 | 6.4% |
| 49 | Warrensburg | 19,582 | 1,247 | 6.4% |
| 50 | Hannibal | 16,771 | 963 | 5.7% |
| 51 | Lake St. Louis | 18,066 | 985 | 5.5% |
| 52 | Branson | 12,817 | 691 | 5.4% |
| 53 | O’Fallon | 93,801 | 4,908 | 5.2% |
| 54 | Farmington | 18,282 | 951 | 5.2% |
| 55 | Webster Groves | 23,712 | 1,226 | 5.2% |
| 56 | Grain Valley | 16,271 | 802 | 4.9% |
| 57 | Chillicothe | 8,923 | 434 | 4.9% |
| 58 | Rolla | 20,287 | 984 | 4.9% |
| 59 | Marshall | 13,739 | 649 | 4.7% |
| 60 | St. Peters | 59,092 | 2,742 | 4.6% |
| 61 | Liberty | 30,689 | 1,398 | 4.6% |
| 62 | Springfield | 169,954 | 7,645 | 4.5% |
| 63 | Kirkwood | 29,363 | 1,294 | 4.4% |
| 64 | Parkville | 8,366 | 361 | 4.3% |
| 65 | Marshfield | 7,696 | 322 | 4.2% |
| 66 | Sedalia | 22,003 | 871 | 4.0% |
| 67 | Macon | 5,466 | 215 | 3.9% |
| 68 | Chesterfield | 49,574 | 1,903 | 3.8% |
| 69 | Manchester | 18,160 | 658 | 3.6% |
| 70 | Maryville | 10,428 | 361 | 3.5% |
| 71 | Dardenne Prairie | 13,503 | 460 | 3.4% |
| 72 | Oak Grove | 8,538 | 290 | 3.4% |
| 73 | Excelsior Springs | 10,484 | 342 | 3.3% |
| 74 | Festus | 13,201 | 419 | 3.2% |
| 75 | Joplin | 52,593 | 1,548 | 2.9% |
| 76 | Brentwood | 8,144 | 238 | 2.9% |
| 77 | Ballwin | 31,279 | 877 | 2.8% |
| 78 | Troy | 13,947 | 369 | 2.6% |
| 79 | Jackson | 15,659 | 404 | 2.6% |
| 80 | Crestwood | 12,295 | 303 | 2.5% |
| 81 | Webb City | 13,221 | 317 | 2.4% |
| 82 | Town and Country | 11,607 | 278 | 2.4% |
| 83 | Union | 12,781 | 284 | 2.2% |
| 84 | Nevada | 7,925 | 176 | 2.2% |
| 85 | Clinton | 9,065 | 150 | 1.7% |
| 86 | Sullivan | 6,310 | 95 | 1.5% |
| 87 | Ozark | 22,417 | 327 | 1.5% |
| 88 | Carthage | 15,574 | 223 | 1.4% |
| 89 | Sunset Hills | 9,112 | 121 | 1.3% |
| 90 | Ladue | 8,940 | 113 | 1.3% |
| 91 | Perryville | 8,536 | 105 | 1.2% |
| 92 | Warrenton | 9,066 | 92 | 1.0% |
| 93 | Nixa | 24,836 | 249 | 1.0% |
| 94 | West Plains | 12,441 | 120 | 1.0% |
| 95 | Neosho | 13,224 | 125 | 0.9% |
| 96 | Bolivar | 11,170 | 97 | 0.9% |
| 97 | Eureka | 13,081 | 105 | 0.8% |
| 98 | Republic | 19,829 | 154 | 0.8% |
| 99 | Weldon Spring | 5,310 | 40 | 0.8% |
| 100 | Trenton | 5,536 | 40 | 0.7% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 121 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Black Populations Across Missouri
If you’re looking for a breakdown of African American populations across Missouri according to the most recent data, this is an accurate list.
The blackest cities in Missouri are Jennings, Black Jack, Bellefontaine Neighbors, Berkeley, Ferguson, Florissant, St. Louis, Hazelwood, Raytown, and St. John. Not sold on Missouri? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
