Thread: Hispanic population growing in most Ariz. counties

Hispanic population growing in most Ariz. counties
State experts tie boom to group's higher birth rate
by Howard Fischer - Aug. 21, 2008 12:00 AM
Capitol Media Services

The number of Hispanics in most Arizona counties is increasing far faster than those of other groups.

New figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the state gained more than 89,000 people who identify themselves as Hispanics in the year that ended July 1. By contrast, the total for all other groups combined was less than 42,000.

Maricopa County, with 60,671 new Hispanics, gained more people in that group than any other county in the nation.
But what makes the figures even more important is that the increase in the number of Hispanics came on top of a much smaller starting base.

In Maricopa County, for example, the year-over-year increase in non-Hispanics was 20,432, a 0.8 percent boost over the 2006 figure of more than 2.6 million. That, too, was larger than any other county in the nation.

But those additional 60,671 Hispanics, on top of the more than 1.1 million Hispanics in the county a year earlier, translates to a 5.4 percent growth rate.

The net result is that most counties are increasingly Hispanic.

Maricopa County's Hispanic population was 30.5 percent of the total population. That compares with 29.7 percent a year earlier and less than 25 percent at the beginning of the decade.

A similar pattern shows up in Pima County, though it is not as pronounced.

There, there were 9,963 new Hispanics, up 3.3 percent from July 1, 2006. The county also added 4,128 people who did not identify themselves as Hispanic, a 0.6 percent increase.

That moved Hispanics up to 32.7 percent of Pima County's population, up from 32.3 percent in 2006 and 29.3 percent in 2000.

Rapidly growing Pinal County actually recorded a bigger increase, in pure numbers, of non-Hispanics than Hispanics. But Hispanics still posted an 11.9 percent year-over-year increase in population, versus just 5.7 percent for other groups.

And that, in turn, edged Pinal County's Hispanic share of total population up a tenth of a point, to 29.6 percent.

Similar patterns turned up elsewhere. In Coconino County, the number of Hispanics grew less than half as much as other groups, but the percentage of growth for Hispanics was nearly three times higher.

Only Greenlee and La Paz counties posted a higher growth rate of non-Hispanics than Hispanics. In fact, the Census Bureau reported that there were actually 14 fewer Hispanics in La Paz County in 2007 than a year earlier.

La Paz set itself apart on another front: The Census Bureau reported that 32 percent of its population was 65 or older. Only 24 counties nationwide had senior populations that high, with nine of them in Florida, four in Texas and three in Michigan.

The Census Bureau does not report what percentage of the state's Hispanic increase is due to immigration, legal or otherwise, and how much due to natural growth.

But the figures suggest the latter may be the larger factor.

In Maricopa County, for example, more than 40 percent of the population younger than 15 was Hispanic, versus just 30.5 percent for the population as a whole.

That's even more pronounced in Pima County: While 32.7 percent of the population was Hispanic, that figure is more than 50 percent for those younger than 5, and more than 40 percent for the other groups through age 19.

None of that should be surprising: the state Department of Health Services reports the birth rate for Hispanics was twice that of non-Hispanic Whites.

The indication of how much Hispanic growth is due to illegal immigration could come when the Census Bureau releases its data for July 1, 2008, population next year. That date was six months after Arizona enacted what are believed to be the strongest laws in the country against hiring undocumented workers.
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If prices on real estate continue to drop I think there could be some increase in the non-Hispanic population. That is until water supplies are exhausted. Arizona has been a favored retirement destination. Don't know if that will resume or if everything has changed, now.

None of that should be surprising: the state Department of Health Services reports the birth rate for Hispanics was twice that of non-Hispanic Whites.

That's the key. While conscientious white America has been listening to economic reason and population overload warnings, Hispanics have been hatching them out like flies.