- Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria, Virginia (2015 rank: 4)
The nation’s capital has the highest median annual income for black residents for all the metro areas ($40,297). At the same time, Washington metro area is the 1st nationwide, according to the Kauffman Index, in terms of business growth, which represents the growth of startups in terms of number of employees over the last 5 years.
- Savannah, Georgia (2015 rank: 6)
The coastal city has a significant industrial and economic activity. Besides the Port, manufacturing, military and tourism are important economic drivers for black business owners in the city. It is also an important black cultural hub, with a significant Jazz musical heritage.
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2015 rank: 7)
Cost of living index in Baton Rouge increased from 91.3 to 96.1, but so did median annual income for black residents (from $18,047 to $23,136). The city has an important petrochemical industry, with the 4th largest refinery in the US and 10th largest in the world.
- Durham, North Carolina (2015 rank: 5)
Durham has the 3rd highest average annual revenue for black owned business, among the top 10 areas presented in this study. It has a strong start-up culture, with several accelerators, co-working spaces, and entrepreneurial convening places. The cost of living index has increased in the last 2 years, though the unemployment rate has significantly decreased from 6.1% to 3.8%.
- Baltimore-Towson, Maryland (2015 rank: 8)
Baltimore keeps its rank among the top 10. The Baltimore Office of Sustainability offers support for black entrepreneurs, having different programs specially tailored for different context, for instance, one targeted at black moms and dads who wish to launch a startup. Unemployment in the city has been declining, although an important number of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last years.
- Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Florida (2015 rank: 10)
Despite the state having some of the lowest wages in the nation, the metro area has experimented the best of 3 worlds in the last 2 years: median annual income for black residents has increased significantly (from $16,091 to $23,309), cost of living index has decreased (from 112.6 to 106), and unemployment has also decreased (from 5.7% to 4.2%).
- Richmond, Virginia (2015 rank: 9)
Finally, Richmond keeps its place among the top 10 best metro areas in US for black-owned businesses. It has the 2nd highest average annual revenues for black-owned business among the top 10 list, only behind Washington. The Jackson Ward neighborhood is commonly referred as “the birthplace of Black capitalism” and is considered the second “Black Wall Street”, after the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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