Census report shows huge increase in Hispanic population in past 10 years

Fri, 06/11/2010 - 00:20

By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX — Maybe it’s immigration.

Or maybe it’s just reproduction.

But in new figures Thursday from the Census Bureau the number of Hispanics in 14 of Arizona’s 15 counties is increasing faster than all other groups.

A lot.

In fact, just the growth in the year ending July 1 has finally pushed the Hispanic population in Pima County above the one-third mark. At the beginning of the decade the figure was less than 30 percent.

That’s based on a 39 percent increase in Hispanic population since the 2000 Census, including 2.4 percent in one year.

By comparison, the number of people in Pima County who do not list themselves as Hispanic grew by just three-tenths of a percent in a year, and 13.4 percent since the beginning of the decade.

Maricopa County also is moving toward having a third of its residents being Hispanics, with 31.8 percent now classifying themselves that way.

That’s up nearly 3.3 percent in just one year — and a 68 percent jump since the 2000 census. The non-Hispanic population grew by less than a percentage point in the year measured, and less than 19 percent since 2000.

But that growth since the beginning of the decade isn’t the highest in the state.

That designation goes to Pinal County, where the number of Hispanics has increased close to 90 percent.

That figure, however, is more reflective of the burgeoning population in the area between Phoenix and Tucson rather than an influx of Hispanics: The non-Hispanic growth rate is actually slightly more, leaving Pinal County with slightly less than 30 percent of its residents as Hispanic.

The picture is a little different in Yavapai County which registered a 74 percent growth rate in Hispanic population.

There, the county was starting from a much lower base. In 2000, fewer than 10 percent of Yavapai residents were Hispanics; the figure now tops 13 percent.

Santa Cruz County remains the place with the highest percentage of Hispanics, where they make up more than eight out of every 10 residents.

Yuma is a distant second with almost 57 percent of its population listing themselves as Hispanic.

The disparity in population changes between Hispanics and other since the 2000 census is sharpest in some of Arizona’s smallest counties.

Apache County, for example, posted a nearly 43 percent increase in Hispanics. The population for all other groups actually declined slightly.

La Paz County also posted a decline in non-Hispanic population during the same period, with a 10.4 percent increase in Hispanics.

The changing demographics are likely to have influence in commerce as businesses do more to try to reach what is becoming a much larger percentage of their potential customer base.

It also could have political impact, especially with anecdotal evidence that many Hispanics, unhappy with the Republican Party and the support by GOP legislators of the state’s tough new immigration law, choose to support others.

The Census Bureau report does not break out how much of each county’s growth is due to new residents and how much is natural.

But figures from the Arizona Department of Health Services show the birth rate of Hispanic women is twice that of people who do not identify themselves as Hispanic.

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