Black Cities & Towns Research

Highest Black-percentage large city in America (93.3%), Black mayor + council, fast-growing Old National corridor with Atlanta-metro access. The Fulton County sheriff's levy sale is wired in as this section's live proof-of-concept dataset.

Highest-scoring city researched so far (44/55). Deep civil-rights heritage, Black mayor + council, UAB anchor economy, very affordable housing, cheap rural land in the surrounding county for the farm goal.

Best chronic-care setup of any city researched: Cleveland Clinic AND University Hospitals both run nationally ranked GI institutes in-city. Black mayor re-elected in a 74% landslide, cheapest big-city housing, largest transit system in Ohio.

Consolidated Macon-Bibb government, affordable Middle Georgia housing and 'good Georgia red clay' farmland within 1.5–2 hrs of Atlanta markets. Strong value on land for the permaculture goal.

Large, majority-Black city (401k Black residents) with a confirmed Black Business Association and major medical center. Watch the xAI/Boxtown data-center environmental-justice fight.

Best chronic-care/GI setup in the project after Cleveland — three in-parish systems with GI + infusion, NOLA motility 80 mi backstop. Southern University HBCU anchor. Note: no longer has a Black mayor as of Jan 2025.

Civil-rights capital with a Black mayor + council and the AACC of Montgomery County. Affordable, with cheap surrounding farmland, but the same Alabama state-law cautions as Birmingham/Mobile.

Unmatched Black cultural weight, Black mayor + council, academic motility medicine (Ochsner/Tulane). Offsets: high cost vs. other LA cities, hurricane/flood exposure, and Louisiana's weak state civil-rights climate.

Largest majority-Black big city with the deepest Black political and business infrastructure outside Atlanta, the best urban-agriculture framework in the nation (Land Bank lots $100–$250), and elite in-city gastroparesis care at Henry Ford. Dragged by the highest U.S. auto insurance and high property tax.

Majority-Black state capital with deep civil-rights and cultural capital, an HBCU, cheap land, and UMMC (one of five NIH gastroparesis consortium sites nationally). Weighed down by a multi-year water/infrastructure crisis and the #1 per-capita homicide rate in the U.S.

Florida's largest majority-Black city with entrenched Black political power, an HBCU, no state income tax, and elite gastroparesis care nearby (UM motility lab, G-POEM). Fundamentally mismatched for the permaculture goal (no farmland) with high cost, hurricane/insurance exposure, and a hostile state LGBTQ climate.

Majority-Black consolidated city with a deep Black-history business corridor (Laney-Walker 'Golden Blocks'), a genuinely cheap cost of living, and a rare in-city gastroparesis program at MCG/Augusta University. Held back by weak schools, high property crime, and a barely-functional bus system.

Cheap majority-Black city with one of the oldest Black chambers in the U.S. (est. 1941), Louisiana's new pro-business tax code, and a confirmed named G-POEM gastroparesis program. Dragged by a water/sewer system in crisis, a $12B data-center buildout competing for that water, and a shrinking, still-violent population.

Near-majority-Black port city with the deepest Black-history site in the project (Africatown/Clotilda), a real diversified industrial economy, cheap housing, and cheap farmland one county north. Undercut by severe hurricane exposure, weak current Black political representation, and elevated crime.

Majority-Black anchor-institution city with two HBCUs, the strongest gastroparesis/GI-motility healthcare fit in the project (Johns Hopkins developed G-POEM there), the best multi-modal transit found, and a historic homicide decline. Offset by the state's highest property tax and weak school test scores.

NJ's largest city and a historic Black-political stronghold (re-elected Black mayor, strong chambers, world-class transit), but its Black share has dropped below majority (now ~45–47% ACS). Poor fit for the farm goal, worst-in-region business climate, high taxes, and Passaic River flood exposure.

Strong do-business and relocate city on most dimensions, but no longer majority-Black (40.6% plurality) and, since 2025, no Black mayor. Deep Black legacy (Jackson Ward), organized Black chambers, top-tier VCU Health, offset by weak schools and gentrification-driven displacement.

Plurality-Black (not majority) #2 U.S. banking hub with a fast-growing young Black population, an HBCU, a Black chamber, and strong GI healthcare. Excellent for business but fails the strict majority-Black filter and faces a 2025–26 crime surge plus a mayoral vacancy.

Diverse New England city (27.6% Black and declining, not majority) anchored by Yale, whose dedicated GI motility program is a rare gastroparesis asset. Strong transit and Black economic-development momentum in Dixwell, but high cost, bottom-tier state tax climate, and no in-city farmland.

Diverse, historically significant Black community (~34%, not majority) inside a high-tax, low-business-friendliness state. Strengths are a real GI motility healthcare ecosystem, transit, and broadband; drags are the highest property mill rate in CT, high poverty, weak schools, and no in-city farmland.