The average high school graduation rate of blacks in the United States has steadily increased to 71% in 2013. Separating this statistic into component parts shows it varies greatly depending upon the state and the school district examined. 38% of black males graduated in the state of New York but in Maine 97% graduated and exceeded the white male graduation rate by 11 percentage points. In much of the southeastern United States and some parts of the southwestern United States the graduation rate of white males was in fact below 70% such as in Florida where a 62% of white males graduated high school. Examining specific school districts paints an even more complex picture. In the Detroit school district the graduation rate of black males was 20% but 7% for white males. In the New York City school district 28% of black males graduate high school compared to 57% of white males. In Newark County 76% of black males graduated compared to 67% for white males. Further academic improvement has occurred in 2015. Roughly 23% of all blacks have bachelors degrees. In 1988, 21% of whites had obtained a bachelors degree versus 11% of blacks. In 2015, 23% of blacks had obtained a bachelors degree versus 36% of whites. Foreign born blacks, 9% of the black population, made even greater strides. They exceed native born blacks by 10 percentage points.

In what areas was the black graduation rate higher than the white graduation rate?
Maine