New United States census data which was released on Thursday has shown that the white population has declined for the first time in history last decade.
Gatekeepers News reports that the new data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that there was a significant increase among people identified as multi-racial, Hispanic, and Asian, adding that they drove much of the population growth between 2010 and 2020.
This development will ignite the start of what will be a fierce partisan battle over redistricting, as states will have to draw congressional and state legislative districts from the local data for the next 10 years.
The data offered a portrait of an increasingly diverse nation. Although the non-Hispanic white population, which remains the largest race or ethnic group, shrank by 8.6% over the decade, it now accounts for 57.8% of the U.S. population which is the lowest share on record.
Meanwhile, those identified as multi-racial increased by 276% – from 9 million in 2010 to 33.8 million in 2020.
According to the data, California’s largest ethnic group for the first time as a U.S. state is Hispanic with 39.4% of the population. Texas, on the other hand, recorded that the non-Hispanic white population stood at 39.7%, just slightly larger than the Hispanic population at 39.3%.
The data also revealed new details on the country’s slowing rate of population growth, which was the lowest of any 10 years save the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Meanwhile, the census officials stated that more than half of all U.S. counties lost population from 2010 to 2020, and almost all growth occurred in metropolitan areas. In recent decades, the South and West saw more growth than the Midwest and Northeast.
Los Angeles, Houston, New York, Chicago, and Phoenix are the five largest U.S. cities; Phoenix grew faster than any other city in the top 10, pushing Philadelphia down to No. 6.
Data also showed that the fastest-growing cities across the U.S. are in suburban areas. A suburb of Phoenix, Buckeye saw its population increase by nearly 80% to lead the nation.
The census also noted that a retirement community in Florida – The Villages is the fastest-growing metro area in the country.
The census data, which offers demographic and racial details of every community down to the block level, arrived months later than originally expected after it took longer to complete due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The delay has also forced some states to go to court to postpone their redistricting deadlines.
In April, the data published by the bureau showed state-level totals, which indicated that six states will gain congressional seats next year based on increased populations, as well as additional Electoral College votes starting with the 2024 presidential election, adding that another seven states will lose seats next year.
Electoral analysts have said the redistricting could give more room to the Republicans, who control more statehouses than Democrats, and they could potentially erase the Democrats’ thin advantage in the House.
However, some experts have questioned the result, stating that the census data may have undercounted certain populations, given both the pandemic as well as the Trump administration’s unsuccessful effort to add a citizenship question to the survey. Civil rights groups earlier expressed concern that the failed attempt could nevertheless have dissuaded some immigrants from filling out census forms.
The Bureau’s Acting Director, Ron Jarmin, said “While no data is perfect, we are confident that today’s redistricting results meet our high data quality standards.”
