SpatialNews Press Release
Census 2000 Analysis Shows White Population Still Largest
Jump to Website Here
The White population remained the largest racial group in 2000, even as
the country moved toward greater diversity, a new analysis released today
by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau showed. Nearly 217 million
people, or 77.1 percent of the total population, reported as White, either
alone or in combination with one or more other races.
This analysis, The White Population: 2000, one in a series of Census 2000
briefs, showed that people reporting as White were the numeric majority in
all states but Hawaii. The Midwest was the region with the highest
proportion of those reporting as White (85 percent).
Other highlights:
Whites by region
According to Census 2000, the majority of those people reporting as
White were living in the South (34 percent) and the Midwest (25 percent).
The West had 21 percent and the remaining 20 percent lived in the
Northeast.
The regions with the highest proportions of people reporting as White
in their total populations were the Midwest with 85 percent and the
Northeast with 79 percent, followed by the West with 74 percent and
the South with 72 percent.
Whites by state
More than half (52 percent) of all people reporting as White lived in
10 states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and North Carolina. These also were
the 10 states with the largest total populations among states.
There were eight states where people reporting as White represented
less than 70 percent of the population, including Hawaii, Mississippi,
California, Louisiana, Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina and New Mexico.
About one-third (32 percent) of all respondents in the District of
Columbia reported as White.
Whites by county
The majority of counties throughout the country had a high percentage
of people reporting as White, but people reporting as White were most
prevalent in counties across the northern half of the country.
Counties with lower percentages of people reporting as White than the
percentage for the country as a whole were concentrated in the
lowland and coastal South. This band of counties extended from east
Texas through Louisiana and southern Arkansas, across Mississippi,
Alabama and Georgia, then northward through the Piedmont and coastal
portions of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
Additional counties with lower percentages reporting White were found
in large metropolitan areas, such as Chicago (Cook County), Detroit
(Wayne County), Kansas City, Mo., (Jackson County, Mo., and Wyandotte
County, Kan.) and Miami (Miami-Dade County).
Whites by place
New York City had the largest number of people reporting as White
with more than 3.8 million. Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston each had
between 1 million and 2 million. These places also were the four with
the largest total populations.
Among places with populations of 100,000 or more, Livonia, Mich., had
the highest proportion of people reporting as White (97 percent). Of
the 10 places with the highest proportion of people who reported as
White, all had more than 93 percent.
Census 2000 data on race are not directly comparable with data from the
1990 census or earlier censuses because in 2000, for the first time, respondents
could report more than one race.
Additional Census 2000 briefs will be released over the next several months
on other races and on topics such as age, sex and housing. A listing of Census
2000 briefs can be found on the Census Bureau's Web site at
www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs.html.
Search GeoCommunity for Related Stories
Search The Web (Google) for Related Stories
Return to Today's News Index
Aug 24, 2001
Jun 26, 2002
|
