This will continue to erupt in the United States, which, despite decades of activism and advancement, has not vanquished its endemic racism. Economic marginalization, cultural mistrust and lingering privileges of yore are fueling race-based conflicts in cities across the new world of 2025. While “racism exists everywhere,” certain cities have developed a reputation for experiencing higher rates of racial inequality, discrimination, and hate crimes. As of February 2025, here are the Racist Cities in the USA.
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, a city steeped in a history of slavery and the Civil War, is still struggling with racial fault lines. No matter past efforts to reckon with its history, such as removing Confederate statues, the city is profoundly divided. Racial profiling and police brutality against Black residents caused protests and calls for change in 2025.
Key Issue: There are vast economic disparities between Black and white residents, with black families earning much less on average.
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, a majority Black city, is not unfamiliar with systematic racism and habitual underfunding of public services. By 2025, the city’s water crisis — which disproportionately impacts Black neighborhoods — has become a vivid emblem of racial neglect. Simultaneously, hate crimes and white supremacist activity have both risen and contributed to a pugnacious atmosphere.
Key Issue: First Americans & Black Americans lack equal access to housing opportunity
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham was a flashpoint in the struggle for Civil Rights and continues to experience racial segregation and inequality today. In 2025, the city’s schools remain largely segregated, and Black residents continue to experience higher overall rates of poverty and unemployment. In the wake of recent police violence against Black people, calls for justice and accountability have boiled to the surface again.
Key Issue: In Chicago, black and white residents are still drifting apart economically.
St. Louis, Missouri
The city has been racially segregated for decades, with residents clustered in underinvested neighborhoods. By 2025, the city is still not free of police violence, especially when it comes to racial profiling. The police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, nearby, in 2014 looms large, and the tension between the Black community and law enforcement is high.
Key Issue: Police violence and systemic racism within the criminal justice system.
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore’s legacy of racial segregation and economic disparity has left deep scars. In the year 2025, the city’s Black inhabitants are still discriminated against in housing, education, and employment. The poverty and crime rates of predominantly Black neighborhoods — now at an all-time high — have also fueled frustration and anger, which has spilled over with periodic protests and unrest.
Key Issue: Economic inequality, and opportunities for Black residents.
Memphis, Tennessee
Systemic racism and economic inequity are imbued in this majority-Black city. In 2025, Black residents are more likely to be unemployed or living in poverty than white residents. Hate crimes and white supremacist activity in the city have also risen, contributing to a tense and divided atmosphere.
Key Issue: Economic disparities along racial lines in terms of labor and resources.
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit — a city mired in long-standing racial tensions, still struggling through 2025. Its residents have historically faced discrimination in rental and jobs, and the city has a Black majority. Although there have been attempts to aid the revitalization of the Blue City, much of it, in particular Black neighborhoods, has been neglected or severely underfunded.
Key Issue: Lack of economic balance and contributions to black communities.
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans has a history and struggle so rich — from the transatlantic slave trade to Jim Crow laws to the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, which diffused so many of its African-American residents — that it surely seeks its response and redemption in the very multiculturalism that finally links it to the traumas of slavery and apartheid and informs our contemporary, real-life drama. By 2025, Black people experience higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and incarceration. The city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina has been uneven, and Black neighborhoods lag in rebuilding and investment.
Key Issue: Where economic inequality and systemic racism within the justice system meet.
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is known for its racist past and sickening segregation. By 2025, the Black residents of the city still face discrimination in housing, education, and employment. The high levels of poverty and crime that have roiled mostly Black neighborhoods across the country have fostered frustration and anger that occasionally boil over into protests and unrest.
Key Issue: Ethnic income and resource disparity.
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, sometimes dubbed the “Black Mecca,” isn’t immune to racial strife. By 2025, the city’s demographics have rapidly changed, pushing out many Black residents who are protesting and demanding affordable housing. Reports of police brutality and racial discrimination have also fueled anger and demands for change.
Key Issue: Gentrification and black people.
Similarities in These Cities Across the Board
While every city struggles with its challenges, some issues are common across the board:
Economic Inequities: Black people in those cities are more likely to have higher poverty rates, higher unemployment rates, and underfunded public services.
Systemic Racism: Discrimination in housing, education, and employment continues to hold down opportunities for Black Americans.
Police Brutality: The violence of police forces (with elements of racial profiling remains one of the main vectors of strife.
Hate Crimes: The rise in white supremacist activity and hate crimes has created a climate of fear and division.
What Can Be Done?
The fight to combat racism in these cities requires interwoven methods:
Government: Economic equality should be a policy goal as a function of housing, school funding, training programs, etc.
Local leaders and organizations need to join forces to douse the flames of racial discord and cultivate empathy.
Land reform: Establish or unify ownership of land, granting it to native populations as an important step in creating land reform.
Education Schools and communities must teach people about the history of racism and its ongoing impacts.
Conclusion
Racism is an unending issue in the United States, and these 10 cities represent the battle for equity and justice that millions of Americans are still fighting. Some progress has been made but so much more work lies ahead. By working on those levels, we can continue to unravel systemic factors of racism but also promote dialogue and increased awareness, perhaps leading attention toward greater equity in the community.
