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County profile New York Metropolitan

Black health in Kings County, New York

762,000

Black residents (ACS)

29.74%

Of county population

$49,800

Median household income, Black

7.50%

Uninsured, Black residents

Kings County, Brooklyn, has roughly 762,000 Black residents, one of the largest Black populations of any US county. Central Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, and East New York neighbourhoods have among the widest Black–white health gradients in New York City. Brooklyn has five NYC Health + Hospitals sites (Kings County, Woodhull, Coney Island, Gotham Health East New York, Cumberland) serving a predominantly uninsured and Medicaid-enrolled Black patient population.

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, the only academic medical centre in Brooklyn, is one of the nation's largest public medical schools by Black enrolment. Brookdale Hospital, Interfaith Medical Center, and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center (now One Brooklyn Health) serve much of central Brooklyn's uninsured Black population.

Headline outcomes

Race-stratified county-level figures pulled from CDC WONDER small-area estimates, the annual County Health Rankings, and the CDC NVSS state/county life tables. County values with cell counts below CDC suppression thresholds are marked as data pending.

Life expectancy (Black)

77.80 yrs

At birth, CDC NVSS Small-Area LE

Infant mortality (Black)

9.20

Per 1,000 live births, CDC WONDER

CVD mortality (Black)

338.60

Age-adjusted per 100k, CDC WONDER I00-I99

County Health Rankings

#33

Overall rank in New York (lower = better)

HPSA: Primary Care HPSA: Mental Health

Policy context in Kings

New York has adopted Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, which gives low-income Black adults in this county a direct pathway to primary-care and prescription coverage. Medicaid in this state covers doula services. Postpartum Medicaid coverage extends for 12 months after delivery — the federal recommended standard, in place here.

Where to get help in Kings

Find Black health providers & resources in Kings

Black clinicians in Kings

Directory filtered to this county & state

Federally Qualified Health Centers

Sliding-scale FQHCs across New York

Crisis & support resources

988, postpartum helplines, Black-serving crisis lines

New York state profile

Statewide context, Medicaid policy, all 10 health facets

References & primary sources

  1. Demographics: US Census ACS 5-year 2019–2023, Tables B03002 (race), B01003 (total population), S1903 (median income), B27010B (uninsured by race).
  2. Mortality and life expectancy: CDC WONDER county-level Multiple Cause of Death and Underlying Cause of Death, pooled 2020–2022; CDC NVSS Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates, 2016–2020 release.
  3. County Health Rankings: University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute & Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2024 release.
  4. HRSA shortage-area designations: HRSA HPSA Find and MUA/P Find, current as of 2025.
  5. Rural-Urban Continuum Codes: USDA Economic Research Service, 2023 release.

Data refreshed:

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