SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — The United States population is becoming more and more diverse thanks to growth among Latinos, Asian and multiracial Americans, while whites are seeing historic declines, the Census Bureau said on Thursday.
The white population remained the largest race or ethnicity group in the U.S., with 204.3 million people identifying as white alone. However, the white alone population decreased by 8.6% since 2010.
And although white people continue to be the most prevalent racial or ethnic group, that changed in California.
For the first time in state history, the Hispanic or Latino population became the largest racial or ethnic group in California, while the share of white people dropped from 40.1% to 34.7%.
The Hispanic or Latino community now represents 39.4% of Californians — a jump from 37.6% in 2010.
Nationally, the “Two or More Races” population, or the Multiracial population, has changed dramatically over the past decade. The Multiracial population was measured at 9 million people in 2010 and is now 33.8 million people in 2020 — a 276% increase.
“Today’s release of 2020 Census redistricting data provides a new snapshot of the racial and ethnic composition and diversity of the country,” said Nicholas Jones, director and senior advisor for race and ethnicity research and outreach at the Census Bureau. “The improvements we made to the 2020 Census yield a more accurate portrait of how people self-identify in response to two separate questions on Hispanic origin and race, revealing that the U.S. population is much more multiracial and more diverse than what we measured in the past.”
Almost all of the growth of the past 10 years happened in metropolitan areas. Around 80% of metropolitan areas saw population gains as more people in smaller counties moved to larger, more urban counties.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.