This year marks the 55th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the landmark legislation outlawing racial segregation and other forms of discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. 

While there has been substantial progress over the 50 years since the civil rights era, racial disparities persist or have worsened in some of America’s largest cities.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 banned discriminatory lending, zoning, and renting practices — addressing but not undoing segregation and racial disparities that remain unchanged in many cities and neighborhoods. Here are the most segregated cities in America.

Segregation often limits access to education and employment opportunities for residents of minority communities and contributes to racial disparities in urban areas. For more on residential segregation, see our analysis of the worst congressional districts for black Americans.

To determine the 15 worst cities for black Americans, 24/7 Wall St. ranked the nation’s metropolitan areas based on racial disparities in income, education, health, incarceration, and white-black achievement gaps in other socioeconomic outcomes using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Click here to see the worst cities for black Americans
Click here to see our full methodology