Thread: Georgia's black population outgrows other minorities

Georgia's black population outgrows other minorities in state

By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY
Updated 30m ago |

ATLANTA — Georgia's population grew by 18% over the last decade, a trend driven by African-American migration to a state whose capital has long been known nationally as "the Black Mecca."

Atlanta's population slowed over the last 10 years with the city adding only 1% as people fled to the suburbs, according to census data released Thursday.

The state added 1.5 million people over the past decade for a total of 9,687,653, according to new Census data. Georgia's black population growth — 579,335 — was greater than either the Hispanic (418,462) or white (285,259) population growth, says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution. "Georgia is just a major magnet for African Americans, both high-skilled and low-skilled," he says. "For cultural reasons and for economic reasons, the black migration to the state is significant."

GEORGIA: Local county, city data
CENSUS NUMBERS: Interactive map shows your state, county, locality

Atlanta itself has actually grown whiter in the past decade while its suburbs have gotten blacker, according to Frey's analysis. Atlanta's population in 1990 was 67% black and 30% white; the suburbs were 71% white and 25% African American. By the end of the decade, non-Hispanic whites made up 39% of the city and 53% of the suburbs while blacks were 51% of the city and 31% of the suburbs.

"You have the young, white, single professional who's willing to take a new job in the city, live in a condo or apartment, and walk or take the bus to work," says Doug Bachtel, a demographer at the University of Georgia. "The growth of the African-American population in the suburbs is due to changing policies associated with housing discrimination. It's not a matter of race, it's social class. There are some gated black communities in (suburban) Cobb County."

The state's five biggest cities each posted gains; Atlanta grew 0.8% to 420,003; Augusta 0.4% to 200,549; Columbus 1.9% to 189,885; Savannah 3.6% to 136,286, and Athens-Clarke County 15% to 116,714.

Georgia's five biggest counties, four of them in metro Atlanta, were led by perennial growth engine Gwinnett, which set the pace with a 37% jump to 805,321.

Some areas saw sharp declines. "There is a significant amount of out-migration because of a loss of job opportunities," says Bachtel. "The recession has exacerbated that."

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

March 17, 2011

Hispanic populations doubles across metro area

By Jeffry Scott
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The growth of the Hispanic population in metro Atlanta nearly doubled since the 2000 census, outpacing the huge Hispanic population surge statewide, despite the slump in the housing industry that employed many Hispanics.

In a core nine-county metro area, the Hispanic population grew from 247,477 in the 2000 census, to 477,891, a jump of over 93 percent.

The greatest boom in the 9-county area was seen in Henry County, where the population swelled a whopping 338 percent, from 2,693 up to 11,813. Gwinnett had the greatest increase in number of Hispanics, growing from 64,136, to 162,035, an increase of 97,899.

State-wide, Hispanics accounted for 853,689, or 8.8 percent of all Georgians.

Among the metro cities that showed the greatest increases in the Hispanic population were Roswell (plus 5,507), Sandy Springs (4,852), Lawrenceville (3,683), Canton (3,292), Atlanta (3,084), Alpharetta (2,576), Lithia Springs (2,144), Forest Park (2,022), Stockbridge (2017) and Lilburn (1,647).

The numbers surprised some leaders in the Hispanic community who believe, based in part on anecdotal information, that the local Hispanic population had declined as jobs went away with the housing bust.

They also said the lack of a hard count and only an estimate (approximately 820,000 statewide) from the U.S. Census Bureau during the peak of the housing boom could mean thousands of Hispanics, many of them illegal immigrants, could have come and gone from the state and metro area between 2000 and 2010.

Census-takers did not ask respondents whether they were in the country illegally.

“I find it hard to believe that that number is up as much as it is,â€