Nationwide, Black people are dying at 2.4 times the rate of white people.
We’ve lost at least 36,765 Black lives to COVID-19 to date. Black people account for 21% of COVID-19 deaths where race is known.
We’ve asked every state to report complete race and ethnicity data. Our Racial Data Dashboard has the latest.
States and territories reporting race and ethnicity data
Tracking inequity at the county level
State-level statistics tell part of the story, but many US states are also deeply segregated—meaning different counties in the same state can have vastly different breakdowns by race and ethnicity.
Race and ethnicity data for COVID cases isn't widely available at the county level, so we're using two numbers we do have: the latest infection and death rates for each county, from a New York Times dataset, paired with the largest racial or ethnic group in that county, based on the Census Bureau's 2018 ACS 5-Year estimates. The results are staggering.
Counties with the 20 highest infection rates
This chart shows the 20 counties with the highest level of infections per capita, and the largest racial or ethnic group in that county. Non-Hispanic White people represent the largest racial group in most of these counties. This is in line with Census statistics, which show that more than 60 percent of Americans are White, non-Hispanic or Latino.
| Rank | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trousdale, Tennessee | 17,027 | White alone (84.48%) | Black or African American alone (9.52%) | Two or more races (4.89%) |
| 2 | Lafayette, Florida | 13,838 | White alone (66.4%) | Black or African American alone (15.31%) | Hispanic or Latino (14.44%) |
| 3 | Chattahoochee, Georgia | 12,780 | White alone (58.59%) | Black or African American alone (19.61%) | Hispanic or Latino (15.35%) |
| 4 | Lincoln, Arkansas | 12,683 | White alone (64.32%) | Black or African American alone (31.16%) | Hispanic or Latino (3.77%) |
| 5 | Lake, Tennessee | 11,214 | White alone (66.78%) | Black or African American alone (28.97%) | Hispanic or Latino (2.25%) |
| 6 | Lee, Arkansas | 10,736 | Black or African American alone (56.33%) | White alone (40.91%) | Hispanic or Latino (1.78%) |
| 7 | Dakota, Nebraska | 10,041 | White alone (48.97%) | Hispanic or Latino (38.51%) | Black or African American alone (4.42%) |
| 8 | Buena Vista, Iowa | 9,146 | White alone (60.35%) | Hispanic or Latino (25.21%) | Asian alone (10.49%) |
| 9 | Chicot, Arkansas | 8,941 | Black or African American alone (54.09%) | White alone (39%) | Hispanic or Latino (5.36%) |
| 10 | Wayne, Tennessee | 8,919 | White alone (90.1%) | Black or African American alone (6.82%) | Hispanic or Latino (2.01%) |
| 11 | Nobles, Minnesota | 8,618 | White alone (60.02%) | Hispanic or Latino (27.16%) | Asian alone (6.49%) |
| 12 | Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska | 7,640 | White alone (53.93%) | American Indian and Alaskan Native alone (32.7%) | Two or more races (8.76%) |
| 13 | Issaquena, Mississippi | 7,380 | Black or African American alone (60.17%) | White alone (38.63%) | Hispanic or Latino (1.2%) |
| 14 | East Carroll, Louisiana | 7,336 | Black or African American alone (69.91%) | White alone (28.91%) | Two or more races (0.8%) |
| 15 | Madison, Louisiana | 7,252 | Black or African American alone (63.64%) | White alone (33.91%) | Hispanic or Latino (2.07%) |
| 16 | Ford, Kansas | 6,945 | Hispanic or Latino (54.54%) | White alone (40.18%) | Black or African American alone (1.94%) |
| 17 | East Feliciana, Louisiana | 6,811 | White alone (53.13%) | Black or African American alone (43.7%) | Hispanic or Latino (1.61%) |
| 18 | Colfax, Nebraska | 6,803 | White alone (49.65%) | Hispanic or Latino (45.46%) | Black or African American alone (3.48%) |
| 19 | Sevier, Arkansas | 6,770 | White alone (57.81%) | Hispanic or Latino (33.17%) | Black or African American alone (5.05%) |
| 20 | Seward, Kansas | 6,280 | Hispanic or Latino (60.05%) | White alone (30.76%) | Black or African American alone (4.99%) |
Counties with the 20 highest death rates
When we look at the 20 counties with the highest level of deaths per capita, we see a different story. In nine of these 20 counties, Black people represent the largest racial group. Three of the top five counties with the highest death rates in the nation are all predominantly Black.Note that The New York Times county dataset combines the five counties that make up New York City’s boroughs (New York County, Kings County, Bronx County, Richmond County, and Queens County) into one listing for New York City. When combined, these counties show up as predominantly White, non-Hispanic. However, Bronx County, which is predominantly Hispanic/Latino and/or Black, has been a hotspot for COVID cases and deaths.
| Rank | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hancock, Georgia | 457 | Black or African American alone (72.29%) | White alone (24.23%) | Hispanic or Latino (1.92%) |
| 2 | Galax city, Virginia | 422 | White alone (75.31%) | Hispanic or Latino (16.56%) | Black or African American alone (7.19%) |
| 3 | Randolph, Georgia | 381 | Black or African American alone (62.17%) | White alone (34.91%) | Two or more races (1.57%) |
| 4 | Terrell, Georgia | 350 | Black or African American alone (58.64%) | White alone (35.55%) | Hispanic or Latino (2.73%) |
| 5 | Neshoba, Mississippi | 344 | White alone (58.62%) | Black or African American alone (21.05%) | American Indian and Alaskan Native alone (15.88%) |
| 6 | Emporia city, Virginia | 335 | Black or African American alone (69.67%) | White alone (22.49%) | Hispanic or Latino (5.5%) |
| 7 | McKinley, New Mexico | 334 | American Indian and Alaskan Native alone (73.66%) | Hispanic or Latino (14.32%) | White alone (8.85%) |
| 8 | Early, Georgia | 309 | Black or African American alone (50.89%) | White alone (45.61%) | Hispanic or Latino (2.21%) |
| 9 | Holmes, Mississippi | 299 | Black or African American alone (83.71%) | White alone (15.64%) | Hispanic or Latino (0.25%) |
| 10 | Jenkins, Georgia | 283 | White alone (56.02%) | Black or African American alone (33.27%) | Hispanic or Latino (8.46%) |
| 11 | New York City, New York | 281 | White alone (32.1%) | Hispanic or Latino (29.1%) | Black or African American alone (21.9%) |
| 12 | Essex, New Jersey | 267 | Black or African American alone (38.64%) | White alone (30.83%) | Hispanic or Latino (22.71%) |
| 13 | Lowndes, Alabama | 264 | Black or African American alone (74.11%) | White alone (24.47%) | Hispanic or Latino (0.68%) |
| 14 | Turner, Georgia | 264 | White alone (54.16%) | Black or African American alone (42.72%) | Hispanic or Latino (1.65%) |
| 15 | Leflore, Mississippi | 255 | Black or African American alone (73.34%) | White alone (22.5%) | Hispanic or Latino (2.64%) |
| 16 | Passaic, New Jersey | 248 | White alone (41.81%) | Hispanic or Latino (40.89%) | Black or African American alone (10.5%) |
| 17 | Union, New Jersey | 244 | White alone (40.28%) | Hispanic or Latino (31.05%) | Black or African American alone (20.16%) |
| 18 | Northampton, Virginia | 243 | White alone (54.1%) | Black or African American alone (33.46%) | Hispanic or Latino (8.67%) |
| 19 | Perkins, Nebraska | 241 | White alone (95.18%) | Hispanic or Latino (4.02%) | Two or more races (0.52%) |
| 20 | East Feliciana, Louisiana | 236 | White alone (53.13%) | Black or African American alone (43.7%) | Hispanic or Latino (1.61%) |
Learn more from media outlets across the country about how COVID-19 is impacting communities of color.
- Almost one-third of black Americans know someone who died of covid-19, survey showsThe Washington PostJune 26, 2020
- Many Latinos Couldn’t Stay Home. Now Virus Cases Are Soaring in Their Communities.The New York TimesJune 26, 2020
- Maine has nation’s worst COVID-19 racial disparityPortland Press HeraldJune 21, 2020
- Missing data veils coronavirus damage to minority communitiesPoliticoJune 14, 2020
- What Do Coronavirus Racial Disparities Look Like State By State?NPRMay 30, 2020
- Stop Blaming Black People for Dying of the CoronavirusThe AtlanticApril 14, 2020
- What the Racial Data ShowThe AtlanticApril 6, 2020
- Why Don’t We Know Who the Coronavirus Victims Are?The AtlanticApril 1, 2020