Hispanics surpass blacks to become largest minority in more than half metro areas in U.S.

Hispanics surpass blacks to become largest minority in more than half metro areas in U.S.

 

Hispanics now outnumber African-Americans in more than half the metropolitan areas in the U.S., according to census figures released today.

They became the largest minority group in 191 of the country's 366 metro areas, fuelled in part by the increasing black exodus from recession-hit cities in the north.

The census results are already having a big political impact, as states redraw their district boundary lines according to population size and racial make-up.

Changing face: Chicago was one of several metropolises where Hispanics overtook blacks to become the biggest minority

It's the latest in a series of releases from the 2010 census showing the changing face of America.

Last month the Census Bureau reported the Hispanic population went up by 42 per cent in the last ten years to hit 50.5 million, meaning one in every six Americans is now Latino.

New Latino immigrants are increasingly choosing to avoid traditional Hispanic areas in the south-west, spreading across the country instead.

Many of them headed to cities such as Madison, Wisconsin and Lakeland, Florida, where the mid-decade housing boom created jobs in the construction and service industries.

Those cities were not the only ones to see rapid gains in their Latino population. Hispanics also overtook blacks for the first time in Chicago, Illinois, Grand Rapids, Michigan and Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Spreading out: This race map of America shows how the Hispanic population is spreading north and east from traditionally Latino areas in the south-west (multiply figures by 100 for population percentages)

 

Redrawing the map: The Hispanic population is expanding from traditional areas in the south-west across the north of the country, for example in Chicago (multiply figures by 100 to get population percentages)

The number of whites fell across all metropolitan areas. Las Vegas, Nevada, Napa, California and Orlando, Florida showed the biggest declines in response to rapid Hispanic growth, with the white population of Las Vegas falling from 60 per cent to 48 per cent.

In 2000, Hispanics were the largest minority in only 159 metropolitan areas. Blacks are increasingly moving out of cities in the north devastated by the recession, most notably Detroit.

The population of the once great Motor City fell by a quarter in just ten years as blacks, who are in the majority, moved away to find better job prospects.

Demographer at Brookings Institution, William Frey, who analysed the data, said: 'In the northern cities, a lot of young blacks who might have grown up in cities are leaving maybe the entire region.

'They're going to the Sun Belt and particularly the South. The ones who stay in the area want to move to the suburbs.

Sad decline: Great swathes of Detroit, like the United Artists Theater, have been left derelict after the population fell by a quarter in the last decade, fuelled largely by blacks moving out to escape the effects of the recession

'Detroit has suffered the biggest loss of blacks the city has shown, and that’s tied to the foreclosures in the city’s housing. It has been the most segregated city in the country and it is still pretty segregated, but not as much.'

He said: '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.'

CHANGING FACE OF U.S. METROS

Metropolitan areas where Hispanics became the biggest minority for the first time include:

Chicago, Illinois

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Lakeland, Florida

Madison, Wisconsin

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Omaha, Nebraska

'From now on, local, state and national politicians will need to pay attention to Hispanics rather than treating blacks as the major minority.'

The political impact of the census results is already being felt across the country. Analysts and black groups are acknowledging there could be fewer black-majority districts, as African-Americans increasingly move out to once predominantly white suburbs.

Kimball Brace, president of Election Data Services, said improved integration will make line-drawing more difficult.

He said: 'The demographic phenomenon we're seeing could cause some big concerns in terms of African-American seats. It's likely to make changes on how we view African-American seats.'

Traditionally, Republicans tend to prefer packing minorities into only a few districts, increasing the concentration of Republican-leaning whites elsewhere.

Democrats tend to support spreading blacks across several districts to make Republican-leaning areas more competitive.