Gov. Deval Patrick was a Harvard University junior in 1976. The Cambridge campus was a “relatively safe and comfortable,” he recalled. “But you never knew then what you were going to get when you went off campus,” Patrick added.

“The city … was totally engrossed, involved and riven over the question of public school busing,” he said. “Today, Boston is smarter, more diverse, younger, more dynamic, prettier in many respects. There are places that my niece and her pals hang out in the city that were just totally off limits in 1976.”

The sheen of optimism Patrick projected to the crowd gathered at the Hynes Convention Center on Monday for the annual National Urban League conference, its first in Boston since 1976, is mirrored in the “State of Black Boston” report. which is topped off with similar buoyancy.

“Today interracial amity prevails in a city that is home to slightly more residents of color than white residents,” says the report, which was largely compiled with help from researchers and professors from UMass Boston, Tufts University, and the Boston Public Health Commission. “The peace that prevails between races and ethnic groups has social, psychological, and eco­nomic benefits for everyone who lives in the city.”

But the 358-page report also covers grim statistics involving housing, education, and criminal justice.

Over 21.5 percent of blacks over 25 years old don’t have a high school diploma, a figure surpassed by Latinos (37 percent), and Asians (27 percent). Clocking in at $33,420, the media household income for blacks is $30,000 lower than the white median household income. And in Boston, according to the report, 58 percent of those arrested in 2008 were black.

“Too often life ends in infancy, is spent in poverty, lasts fewer years, or is taken by violence,” the report says. “Student achievement lags even with the equal access to public schools that a federal court order guaranteed. Few Black busi­nesses and cultural institutions thrive.”

Bright spots dot the report as well. There were 717 black-owned businesses in Boston in 1972. In 2002, there were 3,544. The election and re-election of Deval Patrick, who lives in Milton, is also highlighted. Black students in Massachusetts frequently outscore black students elsewhere in the U.S. on standardized tests, the report notes.

A third of all blacks in the Bay State live in Boston, according to the report, and make up 22 percent of the city’s population. The “heart” of the black community can be found in Roxbury and Dorchester, with Mattapan having the highest concentration.

Carney Hospital is the largest employer in the black community, with more than 1,000 workers. The Stop & Shop in Grove Hall is another large employer, with 249 working there. Other large employers include Franklin Park Zoo, Roxbury Community College, a waste management company in Grove Hall, and a construction firm in Roxbury.

The report also found that the three districts that cover the majority of the black community – B-2, which includes Roxbury and Mission Hill; B-3, which includes Mattapan and part of Dorchester; and C-11– have some of the city’s highest crime rates.

“The three districts combined accounted for 50 percent of violent crimes and 28 percent of property crimes reported to the police in 2008,” the report states. “63 percent of homicides in 2008 occurred in these three districts, along with 52 percent of rob­beries and 51 percent of aggravated assaults.”

While the districts have seen declines in reported crime since 2004, each decline is below the city average, according to the report.

The report bills itself as a “statistical and analytical snapshot” of the black community and seeks to offer solutions to many of the issues it raises.

“It will take a community-wide effort by existing organizations, perhaps new ones, concerned individuals, and all levels of representative government,” the report says. “Ide­ally, many will take up the challenge and take responsibility for implementing specific recommended action steps or launching an initiative of their own directed at achieving the same goals. This community-wide effort should not be confined to the Black community. Everyone who lives in the city has a stake in the outcome. A stronger Black Boston will make for a still better Boston.”

State House News Service contributed to this report.