Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Magoffin County youth
The U.S. Census Bureau last week announced some of the latest demographic changes among states and counties with respect to ethnic composition, age and gender. According to new statistics, more counties continued to become “majority-minority”—meaning that minority groups constitute the majority of residents—from 2007 to 2008. During this time six counties officially saw their Caucasian populations get overtaken by minority totals: Orange County, FL (home to Walt Disney World); Stanislaus, CA; Finney, KS; Warren, MS; and both Edwards and Schleicher, TX. The census bureau now says that nearly 10%, or 309, of the nation’s 3,142 counties were majority-minority as of July 1, 2008.
The county with the highest percentage minority population (98%) was Starr, TX, followed by two other Texas counties – Maverick (97%) and Webb (95%), with Hispanics constituting the largest group.
According to the Census figures, there are now 48 majority-Hispanic counties in the U.S., with the top 10 all being in Texas.
Also, there are now four U.S. states that have majority-minority populations: Hawaii (75%), New Mexico (58%), California (58%) and Texas (53%). The District of Columbia is currently 67% minority, and it has the distinction of having the highest percentage of African-Americans (56%), followed by Mississippi (38%). The state with the largest total number of African-American residents is New York (3.5 million). Seventy-seven counties are majority African-American, all of them in the South, with Claiborne County, Mississippi, on the Louisiana border, leading the way at 84%.
California is home to the largest Hispanic population of any state (13.5 million), and the largest Asian population (5.1 million). Its largest county, Los Angeles, has the largest Hispanic (4.7 million) and Asian (1.4 million) populations of any county in the country (4.7 million). Honolulu County is the nation’s only majority Asian county at 58%.
The county with the largest concentration of whites is Magoffin County, Kentucky (99%).
As far as age goes, the nation’s “oldest” counties are La Paz, AZ, with 34% of its population age 65 or older, then Highlands, FL (32%) and Lancaster, VA (32%).
In terms of gender, there are only 11 states where men make up the majority of the population, with Alaska leading the way at 52.1%, then Nevada (50.9%), Wyoming (50.7%), Utah (50.5%) and Colorado (50.4%).
-Noel Brinkerhoff
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