This report presents a portrait of the Black or African-American population in the United States.¹ It is part of the American Community Survey (ACS) report series. Information on demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics in the tables and figures are based on data from the 2004 ACS Selected Population Profiles and Detailed Tables.² The data for the Black population are based on responses to the 2004 ACS question on race, which asked all respondents to report one or more races.³

The 2004 ACS estimated the number of Blacks to be 36.6 million, or 12.8 percent of the U.S. household population (Table 1).⁴ The number of individuals who reported Black as their only race was 34.8 million, or 12.2 percent of the population. About another 1.8 million reported their race as Black and one or more other races, including 1.1 million people who reported their race as Black and White.⁵ The Black-alone-or-in-combination population included 967,000 Hispanics, and the Black-alone population included 630,000 Hispanics.⁶

Data are reported for both the Black-alone and the Black-alone-or-in-combination populations. In this report, respondents who reported Black and no other race are included in the single-race or Black-alone population. Respondents who reported Black either alone or with one or more other race categories are included in the Black-alone-or-in-combination population. The report also includes data for the non-Hispanic segments of these populations. Data on individuals who reported that they were Black and White, a part of the in-combination population, are shown separately in this report in the Black and White category.

The term “Black” is used to refer to the Black-alone population and the term “non-Hispanic White” is used to refer to the White-alone, not Hispanic population.

__________
¹ In the federal government, the category “Black or African American” refers to people having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicated their race or races as “Black, African Am., or Negro,” or wrote in entries such as African American, Afro American, Nigerian, or Haitian. The terms “Black” and “African American” are used by the U.S. Census Bureau; hereinafter in this report, the term “Black” is used to refer to all individuals who reported they were Black or African American.
² The 2004 ACS datasets, including Selected Population Profiles and Detailed Tables, are available online in the American FactFinder at <factfinder.census.gov>.
³ For further information on the content and format of the questionnaire, see <www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/questionnaire-archive.2003-2004.html>.
⁴ This report discusses data for the United States, including the 50 states and the District of Columbia; it does not include data for Puerto Rico.
⁵ The race-in-combination categories use the conjunction and in bold and italicized print to link the race groups that compose the combination.
⁶ The estimates in this report are based on responses from a sample of households. Estimates may vary from the actual values because of sampling error and other factors. All comparative statements have undergone statistical testing and are significant at the 90-percent confidence level unless otherwise noted.