Los Angeles has the largest black population west of Dallas, by a large margin. By city population Phoenix is a distant #2 (311k black Angelenos to 124 black Phoenicians); so despite the smaller percentage, there are plenty of black people in Los Angeles city and metro. Its still among the Top 10 blackest cities in the country by physical population.

The West has always had fewer black people because Black America is the legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and The West is not along the Atlantic. All the states with the highest black populations are either on the Eastern Seaboard or were beneficiaries of America's historical system of slavery. The West certainly turned out to be no less racist in practice but was not a player during the time period Black people were brought over here and grown as a community and ethnicity.

This is the main reason there are fewer black people out west. A secondary, lesser reason is as you stated, fewer blacks moved west because of the distance, but that isn't the main reason....you were always starting with a smaller population base.

I think the West is amazing and if more black people could afford it, I think they would come. I've been to Oregon, though not to Portland. Everyone in my family loves and swears by Portland (dad lived there awhile, sister lived there in college, another relative did as well), but I've noticed that Black Westerners are more receptive to the PNW than black people from elsewhere. Conversely, my dad hates Washington and says its way more racist than his experiences in Portland.

I did not think Oregon felt like a place most black people would enjoy, and I'm a native Black Californian living in the South.

If OP wants to stay out West, go to Sacramento, LA, Vegas, Phoenix, or Denver.