Peoria gained a spot on the annual 24/7 Wall St report on The Worst Cities for Black Americans. Last year, Peoria was rated the worst. This year Erie, Pennsylvania holds the spot. Peoria is rated 2nd worst.
Peoria has one of the largest black-white earning gaps of any city according to the report. The average black household in Peoria earns 43-cents for every dollar earned in the average white household.
9.3-percent of the population in Peoria is black but 19.3 percent are unemployed. That’s compared to the 5.4-percent unemployment rate of the largely white population.
About 8.6-percent of white Peoria residents live below the poverty line, but that jumps more than four times compared to the number of blacks living in poverty. 35.2-percent of black Peoria residents are below the poverty line according to the 24/7 Wall St annual report.
The report does not go into detail but points to the systemic income inequity driving other quality of life issues like education and health outcomes. The 24/7 Wall St report says the difference in age-adjusted mortality rates of black and white residents in Peoria is one of the largest in the country.
Springfield also made the top ten list for The Worst Cities for Black Americans, ranking at the 9th.