Black wealth blossoms in suburbs: D-FW ranks among top U.S. areas for well-off professionals

• The number of black households in the metro area that earn at least $100,000 tripled during the 1990s, propelling Dallas-Fort Worth into the ranks of the nation's leading metropolitan areas for upper-income black professionals, according to a Dallas Morning News analysis.
• Adjusted for inflation, $100,000 in 2000 is the equivalent of about $75,000 in 1990, the baseline for the analysis.
• Among 28 metropolitan areas with at least 1 million people, and in which at least 10 percent of households are black, the Dallas-Fort Worth area has the sixth-highest percentage of black households making at least $100,000. That places the D-FW area behind established centers of black affluence such as Atlanta and Washington, D.C., and ahead of Indianapolis, Houston and Philadelphia.
• The D-FW area also posted the fifth-biggest gain in upper-income black households during the 1990s, growing from about 5,300 to more than 16,000 households.
• Unlike Atlanta and Washington, D.C., the affluent black population in the D-FW area is more spread out, with small, growing pockets in newer, more affluent cities and larger populations emerging in older inner-ring suburbs with larger black populations.
• As their numbers grow here, affluent blacks are changing more than the demographics of their communities. They are making their mark in the business community. They are demanding more from their local schools. They are creating large, primarily black churches. Political power still eludes them, however, given their relatively small numbers and the lack of a concentrated geographic bloc of voters.
• Fueling the increase in affluent blacks is a growing North Texas economy, which is attracting black professionals from other cities as well as launching black residents already in the area into higher income brackets.

Catching Up

• Upper-income black households in Dallas grew 84 percent from the 1990 to 2000 census, but the city's growth trailed both the state and the D-FW region as a whole.
• About half of blacks in households earning six figures moved between 1995 and 2000, according to census figures. Seventy percent moved within the D-FW area. Five percent moved from another part of Texas. The rest came from other parts of the country.
• In many area suburbs, the number of affluent households increased significantly. But many of those increases seem dramatic because they started from such small bases in 1989, the year for which the 1990 census income data were gathered.

Rising median income

• In more than 20 D-FW-area cities with at least 200 black households, median black household income exceeds the median income for black households nationwide.
• In 13 local cities, the income for black households exceeds the median for all U.S. households.
• And in six of those cities, the median household income for black households exceeds that city's overall median income.

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Also in the series from the Dallas Morning News

• JUNE 26:
  • Black wealth blossoms in suburbs
  • Gulf grows between haves, have-nots
  • CEDAR HILL: Starting a business, finding a new home
  • COPPELL: Clean, safe city is a plus
  • LANCASTER: Fast commute, serenity lured analyst
  • MANSFIELD: Good schools, home value drew couple
  • PLANO: Good job plus shopping bliss
  • ROWLETT: City puts out welcome mat
    
• JUNE 27:
  • Black elite faces school-choice dilemma
  • Parents picking private schools
    
• JUNE 28:
  • The moneymakers in D-FW
  • Top black-owned businesses
    
• JUNE 29:
  • Counting their blessings in suburbs
  • Newcomers found oasis at Richardson church
  • LINKS: Black churches in the suburbs
  • Political talent emerges in suburbs
    
• JUNE 30:
  • Groups keep area blacks connected
  • RAGLAND: Series' goal to freshen black experience
    
• JULY 3:
  • Roundtable discussion with area black professionals 
    
• AUDIO EXCERPTS:
  • Defining 'black wealth'
  • Suburbs vs. the city
  • Public school vs. private school
  • Political influence on wane?
    
• DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
  • American Communties Project at Brown University: Black diversity in metropolitan America
  • Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies: Impact of changing Social Security on African Americans
  • 2000 Census data: Black or African-American by state
  • Texas state demographic data