Census: Mostly-white New Hampshire diversifies

By Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY
Posted 1h 46m ago |

New Hampshire is growing and so is the diversity of its residents, according to the Census Bureau.

Data released Tuesday from the 2010 Census shows the state's population grew to 1.32 million, up 6.5% from 1.24 million in 2000.

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Growth was concentrated in the southern part of the state. Hillsborough County, closest to Boston, gained the most residents, nearly 20,000, boosting its population 5.2%. Led by the city of Dover, which grew 11.5%, Strafford County was the fastest-growing: the population increased 9.7%. The only county to lose population was Coos, the northernmost county.

Manchester, the state's largest city, grew 2.4% to 109,565, but Nashua, the state's second-largest city, shrank by 0.1% to 86,494.

The state remains overwhelmingly white, but the number of black residents increased to 1.1% of the population from 0.7% and the Hispanic population grew to 2.8% from 1.7%.

The change puts the number of minority residents of the state at 5.2%, up from 3.5% a decade ago. "It's a big change for a state that's been almost all white," says Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the Carsey Institute of the University of New Hampshire.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/cen ... nsus_N.htm