Chicago's Black Residents Continuing to Leave the City

Cook County, home to Chicago, lost more African Americans than any county in the United States in 2016. In 2017, that trend has continued, "More African-Americans move to outlying suburbs or warmer states in the South and West, according to U.S. Census Bureau data," Marwa Eltagouri reports. The county and the state of Illinois also lost white population, but not at the same rates, and the departing families often cited different reasons.

Since 2002, a wave of school closures in Chicago have disproportionately affected African American communities. Some feel the city government only put its resources toward initiatives that explicitly benefit the rich, branding Mayor Rahm Emanuel "Mayor 1%." Some experts cited a search for stability in terms of employment, crime, and investment from the city.

"Census numbers also show that African-Americans continue to move to the suburbs, a pattern that began in the 1970s — when manufacturing jobs started to dry up — and picked up in the 2000s," Eltagouri reports.