Most African American cities in North Carolina research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to analyze North Carolina’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 North Carolina is Kinston (67.5% Black); the least is Carolina Beach (0.0%). Statewide, North Carolina is 20.0% Black — the 8th 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 North Carolina, the Black population is 2,146,633, at 20.0% of the state total.
We broke down the most recent Census data to determine the cities in North Carolina with the largest African American population in 2026.
#1 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Lenoir County, North Carolina
Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 21,677 at the 2010 Census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the coastal plains region of Eastern North Carolina.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Vance County, North Carolina
Henderson, a city with a population of 15,368 at the 2010 census, is the county seat of Vance County, North Carolina, United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Nash County, North Carolina
Rocky Mount is a city in Edgecombe and Nash counties in the Atlantic coastal plain region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Although it was not formally incorporated until February 28, 1907, the North Carolina community that became the city of Rocky Mount dates from the beginning of the 19th century. The first post office in the area opened in 1816. The city’s population was 57,685 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population of 56,325 in 2014. Rocky Mount has received the All-America City Award from the National Civic League two times, in 1969 and 1999.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Nash County, North Carolina
Nashville is a city in Nash County, North Carolina, United States. The town was founded in 1780 and features a rare collection of Victorian and Queen Anne style homes. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. The estimated population of Nashville was 5,460 in 2015. It is the county seat of Nash County. Like Nashville, Tennessee, the town and its county were named for Francis Nash, an officer of the North Carolina militia who died in the American Revolutionary War. The city sits in East Central region of North Carolina, between the Research Triangle and the Coastal Plain. The city is about 35 minutes east of Raleigh.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Granville County, North Carolina
Oxford is a town in Granville County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 8,461 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Granville County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Wayne County, North Carolina
Goldsboro is a city in Wayne County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 36,437 at the 2010 Census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Goldsboro, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. The nearby town of Waynesboro was founded in 1787 and Goldsboro was incorporated in 1847. It is the county seat of Wayne County. The city is situated in North Carolina’s Coastal Plain and is bordered on the south by the Neuse River and the west by the Little River, about 43 miles southwest of Greenville and 55 miles southeast of Raleigh, the state capital and 87 miles northwest of Wilmington in Southeastern North Carolina. Goldsboro is best known as home to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Martin County, North Carolina
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Tarboro is a town located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 11,415. It is the county seat of Edgecombe County. Tarboro is located near the western edge of North Carolina’s coastal plain. It has many historical churches, some dating from the early 19th century.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Scotland County, North Carolina
Laurinburg is a city in and the county seat of Scotland County, North Carolina, United States. Located in southern North Carolina near the South Carolina border, Laurinburg is southwest of Fayetteville and is home to St. Andrews University. The Laurinburg Institute, a historically African-American school, is also located in Laurinburg. The population at the 2010 Census was 15,962 people.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 most African American in North Carolina
Located in
Wilson County, North Carolina
Wilson is a city in and the county seat of Wilson County, North Carolina, United States. Situated in the heart of the eastern North Carolina in the Coastal Plain region, around 40 miles east of the capital city of Raleigh, it is served by the interchange of Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 264. Wilson had an estimated population of 49,610 in 2012, according to the Census Bureau.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is North Carolina’s statewide median.
On the map
Where North Carolina’s Black communities live
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Cities In North Carolina 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 North Carolina.
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 North Carolina. That left us with 124 cities.
We then calculated the percentage of residents that are Black or African American. The percentages ranked from 67.5% 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. Kinston took the distinction of being the most Black, while Carolina Beach was the least African American city.
We updated this article for 2026. This is our eleventh time ranking the cities in North Carolina with the largest African American population.
The full plate
African American Population By City In North Carolina
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | African American Population | % African American |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kinston | 19,505 | 13,170 | 67.5% |
| 2 | Henderson | 14,885 | 9,423 | 63.3% |
| 3 | Rocky Mount | 54,297 | 33,881 | 62.4% |
| 4 | Nashville | 5,729 | 3,430 | 59.9% |
| 5 | Oxford | 8,914 | 5,242 | 58.8% |
| 6 | Goldsboro | 34,383 | 18,036 | 52.5% |
| 7 | Williamston | 5,112 | 2,566 | 50.2% |
| 8 | Tarboro | 10,770 | 5,339 | 49.6% |
| 9 | Laurinburg | 15,087 | 7,179 | 47.6% |
| 10 | Wilson | 48,370 | 22,693 | 46.9% |
| 11 | Elizabeth City | 18,871 | 8,591 | 45.5% |
| 12 | Selma | 6,817 | 3,090 | 45.3% |
| 13 | Knightdale | 20,214 | 9,001 | 44.5% |
| 14 | Washington | 9,726 | 4,216 | 43.3% |
| 15 | Fayetteville | 210,815 | 87,497 | 41.5% |
| 16 | Greensboro | 301,198 | 123,556 | 41.0% |
| 17 | Lumberton | 18,859 | 7,551 | 40.0% |
| 18 | Greenville | 92,857 | 36,669 | 39.5% |
| 19 | Hamlet | 5,961 | 2,336 | 39.2% |
| 20 | Roxboro | 8,182 | 3,189 | 39.0% |
| 21 | Winterville | 10,725 | 4,168 | 38.9% |
| 22 | Clinton | 8,304 | 3,198 | 38.5% |
| 23 | Roanoke Rapids | 14,856 | 5,499 | 37.0% |
| 24 | Salisbury | 35,825 | 12,536 | 35.0% |
| 25 | Spring Lake | 11,573 | 3,961 | 34.2% |
| 26 | Rockingham | 8,967 | 3,040 | 33.9% |
| 27 | Charlotte | 903,844 | 300,978 | 33.3% |
| 28 | Durham | 291,467 | 96,808 | 33.2% |
| 29 | Hope Mills | 17,939 | 5,925 | 33.0% |
| 30 | High Point | 116,245 | 38,284 | 32.9% |
| 31 | Dunn | 8,559 | 2,793 | 32.6% |
| 32 | Reidsville | 14,585 | 4,606 | 31.6% |
| 33 | Shelby | 22,100 | 6,901 | 31.2% |
| 34 | Winston-Salem | 252,037 | 78,616 | 31.2% |
| 35 | Gibsonville | 9,467 | 2,885 | 30.5% |
| 36 | New Bern | 32,734 | 9,589 | 29.3% |
| 37 | Burlington | 59,610 | 17,438 | 29.3% |
| 38 | Gastonia | 82,884 | 24,023 | 29.0% |
| 39 | Butner | 8,065 | 2,246 | 27.8% |
| 40 | Clayton | 29,320 | 8,079 | 27.6% |
| 41 | Raleigh | 481,031 | 125,059 | 26.0% |
| 42 | Eden | 15,356 | 3,931 | 25.6% |
| 43 | Statesville | 29,894 | 7,651 | 25.6% |
| 44 | Kings Mountain | 12,039 | 3,042 | 25.3% |
| 45 | Albemarle | 16,762 | 4,232 | 25.2% |
| 46 | Garner | 34,473 | 8,647 | 25.1% |
| 47 | Wendell | 13,064 | 3,204 | 24.5% |
| 48 | Lexington | 19,690 | 4,562 | 23.2% |
| 49 | Smithfield | 12,116 | 2,798 | 23.1% |
| 50 | Sanford | 31,478 | 7,269 | 23.1% |
| 51 | Mebane | 19,538 | 4,494 | 23.0% |
| 52 | Concord | 108,719 | 24,234 | 22.3% |
| 53 | Graham | 18,048 | 3,977 | 22.0% |
| 54 | Kannapolis | 57,890 | 12,695 | 21.9% |
| 55 | Forest City | 7,363 | 1,603 | 21.8% |
| 56 | Lincolnton | 11,783 | 2,505 | 21.3% |
| 57 | Aberdeen | 9,228 | 1,908 | 20.7% |
| 58 | Monroe | 36,759 | 7,246 | 19.7% |
| 59 | Thomasville | 27,321 | 5,348 | 19.6% |
| 60 | Wake Forest | 52,844 | 10,323 | 19.5% |
| 61 | Siler City | 7,995 | 1,420 | 17.8% |
| 62 | Kernersville | 27,830 | 4,866 | 17.5% |
| 63 | Pineville | 11,055 | 1,828 | 16.5% |
| 64 | Mount Holly | 18,208 | 2,992 | 16.4% |
| 65 | Havelock | 17,691 | 2,849 | 16.1% |
| 66 | Harrisburg | 19,633 | 3,125 | 15.9% |
| 67 | Mint Hill | 27,556 | 4,266 | 15.5% |
| 68 | Asheboro | 27,580 | 4,124 | 15.0% |
| 69 | Fuquay-Varina | 40,485 | 5,954 | 14.7% |
| 70 | Jacksonville | 71,279 | 10,414 | 14.6% |
| 71 | Wilmington | 120,805 | 17,422 | 14.4% |
| 72 | Morganton | 17,646 | 2,522 | 14.3% |
| 73 | Morrisville | 31,422 | 4,274 | 13.6% |
| 74 | Huntersville | 63,969 | 8,539 | 13.3% |
| 75 | Matthews | 30,577 | 3,987 | 13.0% |
| 76 | Bessemer City | 5,580 | 725 | 13.0% |
| 77 | Hickory | 44,258 | 5,733 | 13.0% |
| 78 | Carrboro | 21,204 | 2,738 | 12.9% |
| 79 | Lewisville | 13,828 | 1,718 | 12.4% |
| 80 | Mooresville | 52,381 | 6,375 | 12.2% |
| 81 | Indian Trail | 42,036 | 5,059 | 12.0% |
| 82 | Chapel Hill | 61,607 | 6,943 | 11.3% |
| 83 | Marion | 7,579 | 849 | 11.2% |
| 84 | Southern Pines | 16,420 | 1,766 | 10.8% |
| 85 | Brevard | 7,897 | 813 | 10.3% |
| 86 | Lenoir | 18,299 | 1,822 | 10.0% |
| 87 | Elon | 11,032 | 1,063 | 9.6% |
| 88 | Davidson | 15,660 | 1,385 | 8.8% |
| 89 | Mount Airy | 10,633 | 919 | 8.6% |
| 90 | Holly Springs | 45,248 | 3,812 | 8.4% |
| 91 | Newton | 13,333 | 1,113 | 8.3% |
| 92 | Hillsborough | 9,724 | 796 | 8.2% |
| 93 | Waxhaw | 22,275 | 1,814 | 8.1% |
| 94 | Asheville | 94,535 | 7,672 | 8.1% |
| 95 | Hendersonville | 15,408 | 1,233 | 8.0% |
| 96 | Summerfield | 11,116 | 870 | 7.8% |
| 97 | Clemmons | 21,871 | 1,690 | 7.7% |
| 98 | Leland | 29,607 | 2,284 | 7.7% |
| 99 | Cherryville | 6,226 | 477 | 7.7% |
| 100 | Wesley Chapel | 9,090 | 695 | 7.6% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 124 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Black Populations Across North Carolina
If you’re looking for a breakdown of African American populations across North Carolina according to the most recent data, this is an accurate list.
The blackest cities in North Carolina are Kinston, Henderson, Rocky Mount, Nashville, Oxford, Goldsboro, Williamston, Tarboro, Laurinburg, and Wilson. Not sold on North Carolina? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
