A comprehensive analysis by WalletHub reveals significant progress in reducing health disparities between Black and White Americans in several states, with Texas emerging as a leader in improving health outcomes for Black residents.
Texas has reduced the Black-White gap in health insurance coverage by 12.1 percentage points since 1995, the second-largest decrease among all states. Most notably, Texas has done more than any other state to decrease the share of Black residents suffering from poor health. The state has also made the 10th-most progress in reducing diabetes rates and ranks second nationally for progress in addressing obesity among Black residents.
Mississippi has achieved remarkable gains in health equity as well, ranking third-best for progress on overall health and third-best for closing the gap in health insurance coverage between Black and White residents. North Dakota leads all states in health progress overall, demonstrating that improvements can occur across diverse geographic regions.
The WalletHub study examined health disparities across multiple dimensions, including rates of poor health, insurance coverage, obesity, diabetes, preterm births, low birthweight, and infant mortality. These metrics provide a comprehensive view of how states have worked to address long-standing health inequities that have disproportionately affected Black communities.
Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst, noted the encouraging nature of the data, stating that Georgia has closed the racial income gap by over 32 percentage points since 1979, while Mississippi has decreased disparity in poverty levels by 27 percentage points since 1970, improvements that likely contributed to better health access and outcomes.
See: “States That Have Made the Most Racial Progress” (January 13, 2026)
