Hispanics Now Largest Minority in 191 of 366 Metro Areas

|

Now Hispanics are the largest minority in metro areas like Chicago, Grand Rapids, Mich. And Atlantic City, N.J. – states that will lose U.S. House seats in the Congress to be elected in 2012.

Slowly, just as when the pieces of a gigantic jigsaw puzzle fall in place, the release of new figures from the 2010 census are allowing us to see a new image of the nation in which we live. A nation, where for the first time, Hispanics now outnumber African-Americans in more than half of the 366 metropolitan areas of the country.

We already knew that most of the nation lives around these large metropolitan areas; only we did not know that it encompasses a record 83.7 percent of the population of the country. And we did not know that Hispanics are now the largest minority in 191 of the 366 metropolitan population centers in the nation.

According to Associated Press, these changes in where the country’s ethnic groups live is due in part to blacks leaving many economically hard-hit cities in the north and moving south, while Hispanics now coming into the country are spreading around, not settling in the traditional communities of the southwest, California, New York, and Chicago.

These changes are already shifting political and racial dynamics in cities until recently dominated by blacks and whites. AP adds that the numbers coming out from the 2010 count are already having a big effect on redistricting in many states, where district boundary lines are being redrawn on the new ethnic and racial makeup of the different area’s population.

Ten years ago Hispanics were the largest minority in 159 metro areas; most of them located in the Southwest states on the border with Mexico. Now Hispanics are the largest minority in metro areas like Chicago, Grand Rapids, Mich. And Atlantic City, N.J. – states that will lose U.S. House seats in the Congress to be elected in 2012.

But Hispanics are also becoming the largest minority, surpassing blacks in areas like Lakeland, Fla.; Madison, Wis.; Oklahoma City and Omaha, Neb.

AP said that the Census Bureau reported last month that overall Hispanic population jumped 42 percent in the last decade to 50.5 million, or 1 in 6 Americans. Blacks increased a modest 11 percent to 37.7 million, with declines particularly evident in big cities such as New York, Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis, Mo.

“A greater Hispanic presence is now evident in all parts of the country — in large and small metropolitan areas, in the Snowbelt and in the Sunbelt,” William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, who analyzed the census data told AP. “From now on, local, state and national politicians will need to pay attention to Hispanics rather than treating blacks as the major minority,” he said.

The figures released Thursday show that the white share of the population declined in all 366 metro areas, while all but five showed gains in Asian population shares — Honolulu (slipping from 45 percent to 43 percent), El Centro, Calif.; Sioux City, Iowa; Logan, Utah; and Kokomo, Ind.

U.S. metro areas showing the biggest drops in white shares due to rapid Hispanic growth over the last decade were Napa, Calif. (69 to 54 percent); Las Vegas (60 to 48 percent) and Orlando, Fla. (65 to 53 percent).

The Americano/Agencies

Source: www.TheAmericano.com