Moving to the Lone Star State, there are three Texas cities that rank in our Top 5. San Antonio comes first, with a final score of 66.08 and a Top 10 ranking in economic opportunity (#3) and housing opportunity (#7), despite lower ranks for community & representation (#14) and business environment (#14).
Compared to other cities, San Antonio’s Black population is rather small at 8.1% of all residents, almost half the average. However, the local Black employment rate is relatively high (93.9%) as is the Black median income. Black incomes are 5% lower than the rest of the population, much closer than in other cities on our list, even DC and Atlanta which received stronger overall scores.
On the other hand, the share of Black graduates is high at 26.8%. Texas has the second most HBCUs, after Alabama. While it’s an HBCU mecca, there’s only one university in San Antonio. This may or may not explain why the share of professionals is lower compared to our other top two.
Despite this, there’s no lack of Black-owned businesses to support in San Antonio. Start your day off by taking a boxing class at Black Stallion Boxing Plus. Then eat some lunch at Jamaica Jamaica Cuisine. Lastly, spend the remainder of the day shopping at Gold Diamonds.
While the Black homeownership rate is higher than average at 43.7%, the homeownership gap (Black homeownership rate – non-Black homeownership rate) is 10% lower than average at -19.4%. Perhaps this could be explained by San Antonio’s overall homeownership rate which is almost 10% lower than the state’s average. Additionally, the lower homeownership gap could explain the cost burden rate also being lower than average at 38.9%.