Census: Racial, ethnic minorities a majority in 4 Kansas counties

BY HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle

WICHITA - Non-Hispanic white people are now a minority in four of Kansas' 105 counties, and two other counties appear to be on a pace that will push them across that threshold in just over a decade, new Census Bureau estimates show.

Non-Hispanic whites will remain the majority in Sedgwick County for the next 50 years, the figures suggest, and they will stay a majority for most Kansas counties well into the next century.

The new population estimates show that Geary County was the state's fastest-growing county from 2007 to 2008. The growth there was attributed to an increase in the number of troops stationed at Fort Riley.

Kiowa County, which lost hundreds of homes in the 2007 Greensburg tornado, saw the steepest population decline.

Butler County saw a 1.9 percent increase in population last year -- enough to push it ahead of Reno County and become the state's eighth largest.

The figures come from the Census Bureau's May 14 county population estimates, which make up the last batch of estimates to be released before the bureau conducts it's decentennial Census next year.

Peter Haxton, the state data center coordinator for Kansas, said the estimates are based on births, deaths and migration figures. The migration numbers for those under the age of 65 are pulled from Internal Revenue Service records, he said. Figures for older residents are taken from Medicare records.

New Kansas county population figures:

These are the latest population and ethnic percentage estimates for Kansas and counties in the Wichita metropolitan area.

July 1, 2008 Change American
Population from 2007 White Black Hispanic Asian Indian

Sedgwick 482,863 1.6% 73.1% 9.2% 10.9% 3.8% 0.9%
Butler 63,562 1.1% 92.1% 2.0% 2.9% 0.6% 0.9%
Harvey 33,675 0.6% 86.1% 1.7% 9.8% 0.6% 0.5%
Sumner 23,616 -0.9% 92.2% 1.1% 3.7% 0.2% 1.1%
Kansas 2,802,134 0.9% 80.7% 6.1% 8.8% 2.2% 1.0%




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The figures showed that Harvey County grew 0.6 percent last year and remained the state's 16th largest county. Sedgwick County grew 1.6 percent and remained the state's second largest behind Johnson.

The figures showed that 47 Kansas counties saw population increases between 2007 and 2008, while 58 saw population declines.

Greensburg had about 1,450 residents on the day the town was leveled by the tornado. City Administrator Steve Hewitt said the population today is probably 400 to 500 below that total. He said many Greensburg residents ended up in Pratt and Dodge City.

Hewitt said building permits are still being issued every week in Greensburg, but he said it was hard to tell when the city will return to its pre-tornado population.

Work on rebuilding the city's schools and its hospital is continuing, he said. Until those institutions are reopened, he said, it's hard to tell where the city's population ultimately will settle.

"Those are things that are going to take time," he said. "I think a good measuring stick will be in five years."

National figures

The nation's overall population of racial and ethnic minorities continued to increase in 2008, but at a slower pace than in prior years, the Census Bureau said.

Deterred by immigration laws and the lackluster economy, the population growth of Hispanics and Asians in the United States has slowed unexpectedly, causing the government to push back its estimate on when racial and ethnic minorities will become the majority in the country.

The Census Bureau projected last year that non-Hispanic whites would become a minority in 2042, but it now says that estimate did not fully take into account the economic crisis and new policies that discourage immigration.

Despite the decrease, the nation's minority population increased 2.3 percent in 2008 and now makes up 34 percent of the country's total population.

In Kansas, the minority population rose 3.1 percent last year and now stands at just less than 20 percent of the state total.

Before the latest estimates were released, non-Hispanic whites were minorities in three Kansas counties: Ford, Seward and Wyandotte. With the release of the new Census estimates, Finney County became the fourth Kansas county to fall into that category.

If the 2000-to-2008 growth trends continue, Grant and Hamilton will become majority-minority counties in 2021. Stevens and Stanton counties will reach that point in the early 2030s. All four counties are in southwest Kansas.

Contributing: Associated Press
Reach Hurst Laviana at 316-268-6499 or hlaviana@wichitaeagle.com.

http://www.kansas.com/weekend/story/825394.html