World Language Communications Blog

Interactive: How Latinos Are Reshaping Communities

by COREY DADE

Over the past decade, the story of population growth in the United States was defined largely by the story of Latinos emerging as the nation's largest minority.

Latino USA: A Decade Of Hispanic Population Growth

Scroll over the map to see population change by state, or zoom in to see county data. Yellow, orange and red represent the areas with the greatest growth rates. Check out the larger map to enter your own zip code and see population change down to the census tract level.

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They surpassed African-Americans for that distinction, by accounting for 56 percent of America's growth from 2000 to 2010. They now number more than 50 million. Put another way, 1 in every 6 U.S. residents is Latino.

Hispanics remain heavily concentrated in states such as California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida and New York. The majority reside in just three of those states — California, Texas and Florida.

Yet the 2010 count showed that Hispanics have begun to fully spread across the nation.

Their populations increased in virtually every state. And on the local level, Hispanics increased their populations in 2,962 of America's 3,142 counties. They declined in number in 108 counties.

The greatest gains occurred in the South and Midwest, which have had traditionally low Hispanic populations, but have attracted Hispanics with lower costs of living and jobs in agriculture.

"Throughout the decade, we were tracking the faster-than-average growth in what have been called the new settlement areas in the Southeast and Midwest. For the most part, the census numbers not only confirmed that, but said we had underestimated the growth in these new areas," says Jeff Passel, chief demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center.

Southern states posted the top five fastest growth rates, led by South Carolina and followed by Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas.

In Alabama, the Hispanic population grew 145 percent. About 186,000 Hispanics now live in the state, compared with roughly 76,000 in 2000, drawn by low-wage jobs at food-processing facilities and three large automobile plants.

The majority of Hispanics live in the Birmingham area, which is in Shelby County, where the Latino population grew by nearly 300 percent.

States With The Fastest Hispanic Growth Rates

The majority of the nation's Hispanic population live in just three states: California, Florida and Texas. But for the fastest rate of growth, look to the South:

1. South Carolina
2. Alabama
3. Tennessee
4. Kentucky
5. Arkansas

"A lot of the growth has been because of the housing boom and the construction jobs, poultry plants and the Mercedes, Honda and Hyundai plants," says Jeremy Love of the advocacy group Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama.

The surges in Alabama and other Southern states have stirred hostility. Alabama and Georgia have passed laws cracking down on illegal immigration. Alabama's new law, which is being challenged in federal court (as is Georgia's new law), grants broad authority to law enforcement to detain people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. The law also requires public schools to report the citizenship status of their students, as well as their parents, to authorities.

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