The 3 Test
Sources & methodology
Every figure cited on The 3 Test is listed below with a primary-source link. Where "Black men" specifically is not broken out in published data, we use the all-gender "Black/African American" share and flag it. URLs verified May 7, 2026.
Population baselines
- US Census Bureau QuickFacts: Santa Clara County, CA Black/African American share of Santa Clara County (~2.5%, 2023 ACS).
- US Census Bureau QuickFacts: San Francisco County, CA SF Black population baseline.
- Axios SF: SF's racial demographic shift since 2000 SF Black population fell from 13.4% (1970) to ~5% (2023).
- Bay Area Equity Atlas: Race/Ethnicity 9-county Bay Area Black population.
- Bay Area Equity Atlas: Who is Black in the Bay Area? 15% absolute Black population decline since 2000 (488K to 413K).
- KQED: Why Black Women Outnumber Black Men in the Bay Area 82 Black men per 100 Black women in the Bay Area; ~12% of prime-age (25–54) Black men "missing."
US tech workforce
- EEOC: Diversity in High Tech (May 2016) Top 75 SV tech firms aggregate — 3% Black workforce, <1% executive level. Based on 2014 EEO-1 data; still the most recent comprehensive SV-specific federal aggregate.
- EEOC: Research Finds Unequal Opportunity in High Tech Sector (2024 release) Black workers 7.4% of high-tech workforce vs. 11.6% of total US workforce (2022 data).
- Institute for New Economic Thinking: African Americans in Tech 4.9% Black share of professional roles at the Big Five (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft) in 2022.
VC funding & founders
- Crunchbase News: Share of Startup Funding for Black Founders Hits Multiyear Low (early 2025) 0.4% in 2024 ($730M of $314B); down >2/3 from 2021 peak.
- Crunchbase News: Drop in Venture Funding to Black-Founded Startups (Jan 2024) 0.48% of US VC went to Black founders in 2023; $705M of $136B; first time below $1B since 2016.
- TechCrunch: Venture dollars going to underrepresented founders (July 2024) H1 2024: $228M to Black-founded startups (~0.3% of $79B).
- Crunchbase News: Black Women Still Receive Just A Tiny Fraction of VC Funding ~1/3 of Black founder funding goes to Black women; basis for derived ~0.27% Black male founder estimate.
- Harlem Capital: 38 Black & Latino Founded Unicorns 38 Black/Latino unicorns out of ~1,000 (3.8%).
- Crunchbase News: Black-Founded Startups & Unicorns 13 active US unicorns with at least one Black founder out of 714 (~1.8%).
Board representation
- Spencer Stuart: 2024 S&P 500 New Director and Diversity Snapshot 24% of S&P 500 directors are URM; URM share of new directors fell from 52% (2023) to 29% (2024).
- Spencer Stuart: 2023 S&P 500 New Director and Diversity Snapshot (via Harvard CGI) ~12% Black/AA share of S&P 500 directors; ~89% of S&P 500 boards have at least one Black director.
- DiversIQ: S&P 500 Board Diversity Hits 50% 7.9% Black/AA share of Russell 3000 board members; 33% drop in new Black director appointments YoY 2024.
Education pipeline
- CRA Taulbee Survey 2023 Report (May 2024 release) ~3.9% URM doctoral recipients in CS; Black-only ~2%.
- NCES Fast Facts: Degrees conferred by race/ethnicity and sex National baseline degree data.
- UC Berkeley Office of Planning and Analysis 2.5% Black share of UC Berkeley enrollment (2023).
- Stanford Daily: Diversity within Stanford's CS department Stanford CS major demographic estimate.
Company diversity reports
- Google Diversity Annual Report 2024 5.7% Black US workforce; 5.1% Black leadership.
- Meta 2022 Diversity Report Last comprehensive published report. Tech roles 2.4% Black; leadership 3.8%.
- Apple 2022 Consolidated EEO-1 9% Black US workforce; 5.5% Black tech (down from 6% in 2014).
- DiversIQ Nvidia Profile 2.5% Black workforce. Nvidia stopped publishing detailed EEO-1 data after 2021.
- Salesforce 2024 Annual Equality Update 10.5% URM (combined). No Black-specific breakdown in 2024 update.
- Cisco Workforce Snapshot 73% increase in Black entry-to-manager roles 2020–2023.
- Adobe FY2021 D&I Year in Review 2.8% Black US workforce. Last standalone D&I report.
- DiversIQ Intel Profile 5.2% Black US workforce; 7.7% Black board.
- Netflix 2022 Inclusion Report Update 10.7% Black US workforce; 12.9% leadership. Last full report.
- LinkedIn 2024 Workforce Diversity Report Black-specific % not extracted from public summary.
- DiversIQ Oracle Profile 6.3% Black workforce.
- HPE 2024 Living Progress Report No Black-specific breakdown publicly disclosed.