White America Is Shrinking

The 2020 Census has revealed that America's white population is shrinking and is now less than 60 percent for the first time on record, with nearly 20million fewer white Americans alive today than ten years ago.

Daily Mail screenshot 

White Americans make up 57.8 percent of the country, according to the data that was released on Thursday, a decrease of over 6 percent since 2010. 

That is the number of people who replied 'white alone, non Hispanic or Latino' to the survey. Another group who just answered 'white alone' make up 61 percent of the country, according to a data map. 

The white population is still the largest in the country at 204.3 million, but that number is down from 223.6 million in 2010.

The second largest group is Hispanics which makes up 62million, or 18 percent. The third are African Americans, which represent 12.1 percent of the country. That is down from 13 percent in the 2010 census. 

Generally, the population is becoming more diverse with people responding that they are of 'some other race' than white, black, Hispanic, native American, Asian, or Pacific Islander, than before.

The only states where the majority of the population is non-white are California (Hispanic majority of 39.4%), DC (black majority of 40.9%), Hawaii (Asian majority of 36.5%), New Mexico (Hispanic majority of 47.7%) and Puerto Rico, which has a population that is 98% Hispanic.

Vermont is the whitest state, with 95.5% of residents reporting to be white.

'Twenty years ago if you told people this was going to be the case, they wouldn’t have believed you.

'The country is changing dramatically,' William Frey, a researcher at the Brookings Institution told The Washington Post of the data.

The data also offered new details on the country's slowing rate of population growth, which is lower than it has been at any time aside from the 1930s.

More than half of all U.S. counties lost population from 2010 to 2020, census officials said.

New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix are the five largest U.S. cities; Phoenix, which grew faster than any other city in the top 10, surpassed Philadelphia.

The fastest-growing cities across the U.S. are in suburban areas, data showed. Buckeye, a suburb of Phoenix, saw its population increase by nearly 80% to lead the nation.

The Villages, a retirement community in Florida, is the fastest-growing metro area in the country, the census said.

The release arrived months later than originally expected after the census took longer to complete due to the coronavirus pandemic. The delay has forced some states to go to court to postpone their redistricting deadlines.