Best African Immigrant Marketplaces in the USA

To entrepreneurs, professionals, business owners, and organization leaders, if you’re searching for African Immigrants (especially Ghanaians) to sell products to or provide services to, then look no further. Here are the best places to find them in the USA. This demographic has been portioned into the following segments: National Population, Regional States, Local Cities, Immigrant Representation, Occupation/Profession, Average Income, and Poverty Level. Now, enjoy this free market of information!

As of 2015, there are 1.7 million sub-Sahara African immigrants living in the U.S. and about 235,000 are Ghanaian (migrationpolicy.org). The largest numbers of them reside in Texas, New York, California, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Virginia. Each of these states has at least 100,000 African immigrants respectively (pewresearch.org). As of 2015, the Somalian-born community was roughly 20% of Minnesota’s foreign-born population (pewresearch.org). Therefore, a good portion of African Immigrants can be found on the east coast of U.S.

In 2015, the top four counties with sub-Saharan Africans were Bronx County, NY; Montgomery County, MD; Harris County, TX; and Prince George’s County, MD. These counties accounted for about 12% of all sub-Saharan African immigrants in the United States (migrationpolicy.org). Once again, a good portion of African Immigrants reside in the east coast regions.

For 2015, the U.S. cities with the highest number of sub-Saharan Africans were the greater New York City, Washington, DC, and Atlanta metropolitan areas. These city areas accounted for about 27% of sub-Saharan African immigrants in the United States (migrationpolicy.org). For Ghanaians, the U.S. city with the highest concentration is Worcester in Massachusetts. Thus, the pattern of African Immigrants living on the east coast continues at the city localities.

As of 2015, there are over 100,000 African Immigrants from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, and Ghana living in the U.S. respectively (pewresearch.org). In addition, Nigerians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Kenyans, and Ghanaians accounted for 50% of the foreign-born African population in the U.S. (pewresearch.org). This goes to show that there are a handful of countries in Africa who have a decent amount of its population traveling abroad for various reasons. For instance, Nigeria has the most African Immigrants (roughly over 300,000) living in the U.S. (pewsocialtrends.org). Therefore, it’s most likely the case that a decent number of Nigerians as well as Ethiopians, Egyptians, Kenyans, and Ghanaians can be found somewhere in the east coast of U.S.

In 2015, about 75% of sub-Saharan Africans (ages 16 and over) were in the civilian labor force. They were more likely to be employed in management, business, science, and arts occupations and less likely to be employed in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations. The occupational distribution tends to follow the pattern of educational attainment: South African and Nigerian immigrants were the most likely to be in management positions, while Somali immigrants worked in production, transportation, and material moving occupations (migrationpolicy.org). However, about 40% of African Immigrants are underemployed or occupying jobs not part of their professional expertise, such as doctors, nurses, lawyers, professors or engineers (migrationpolicy.org). Moreover, Nigerians and South Africans were the most educated, with close to 60% holding at least a bachelor’s degree, while Somalis were the least educated, with about 10% having a four-year college degree (migrationpolicy.org).

This sub-Sahara African immigrant population has an estimated average household income around $50,000 annually, which is similar to Ghanaians who are at about $44,000 per year. As a collective African community, they have the highest percentage of Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees of all immigrants in the United States. In 2015, most sub-Saharan Africans in the U.S. lived above poverty, which is about $30,000 for an average household per year. Unfortunately, poverty rates were high amongst Somalis (46%) and Liberians (22%) (migrationpolicy.org). Overall, income and education are both relatively positive for African Immigrants living in U.S.

If you’re searching for African Immigrants to sell products to or provide services to, then the best 10 places to find them in the USA are: Texas, New York, California, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia, Minnesota, Washington, DC, and Atlanta, GA. Most of these states and cities are on the east coast of U.S. Within those 10 places, the common ethnicities to be found are: Nigerians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Kenyans, and Ghanaians. These African Immigrants have occupations or professions within the civilian labor force or private sector jobs, such as management, business, science, and arts. Their average income for the year tends to be above the poverty line of the USA. This information can help entrepreneurs, professionals, business owners, and organization leaders to find problems and create solutions for African Immigrants living in the USA, especially those that are barely surviving or in some form of poverty.

References:

1 https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/international-migrati…

2 http://www.pewresearch.org/

3 http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tony Ansah, Jr. is a self-published author, a public administrator by profession, and a social entrepreneur based in Rhode Island, U.S.A. He is also the founder and owner of Ansah Africa, a consulting and marketing startup established in 2017.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

BY TONY KWAME ANSAH, JR.