Pew Research: 109 U.S. Counties Become Majority-Minority Since 2000

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Rick Scuteri/AP

About 109 counties across the United States have become majority-minority in less than 20 years, new demographic data reveals.

The latest Pew Research Center study finds that between 2000 and 2018, 109 U.S. counties across 22 states have had their non-Hispanic white populations drop below 50 percent, while the Hispanic, Asian, and black American populations have all grown.

Today, there are roughly 293 majority-minority U.S. counties, concentrated mostly along the coasts in states such as California, Florida, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Pew Research Center analysts project that in the next decade, Fairfax County, Virginia; Pima County, Arizona; Milwaukee County, Wisconsin; and Cobb County, Georgia may all flip from majority white to majority-minority. In each of these counties, the white population is less than 52 percent.

(Screenshot via Pew Research Center)

In some regions, the white population decreased between 20 to nearly 45 percent in just 18 years. For example, in 2000, Rockdale County, Georgia, had a white population of 73 percent. Fast-forward to 2018, and Rockdale County’s white population dropped to 30 percent — a 43 percent decrease.

Similarly, in Douglas County, Georgia, the white population has fallen 37 percent since 2000, as well as dropped 29 percent in Charles County, Maryland; 25 percent in Colfax County, Nebraska; 36 percent in Manassas Park City County, Virginia; 23 percent in Prince William County, Virginia; and 38 percent in Henry County, Georgia.

(Screenshot via Pew Research Center)

In 21 of the nation’s 25 most populous U.S. counties, minorities outnumber white residents. In 2000, eight of these 21 counties — San Diego County, California; Orange County, California; Riverside County, California; Sacramento County, California; Clark County, Nevada; Broward County, Florida; Tarrant County, Texas; and Wayne County, Michigan — were majority white.

Hispanic residents tended to be the largest demographic group in all eight of these counties, except for Wayne County where black Americans make up a plurality of residents.

Between 2017 and 2018, racial and ethnic minorities increased their share of the U.S. population by about 1.3 million people. In contrast, white Americans decreased their share of the total population by about 257,000 people between 2017 and 2018.

Similar demographic trends are taking place in individual states where white Americans are drastically decreasing their share of populations, while Hispanics — mostly driven by legal immigration — are increasing their share.

Census Bureau data finds that Hispanics are adding about nine residents to the Texas population every year for every one white resident, as Breitbart News reported. Last year, the white resident population of Texas grew by only about 24,000. In 2018, the Hispanic population in the U.S. hit an all-time record high of nearly 60 million.

The country’s national illegal and legal immigration policy admits more than 1.5 million foreign nationals, primarily from Mexico, Central America, and South America, every year.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder

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