US is becoming more diverse _ and quickly, in certain places
The United States is becoming more diverse as the white share of the population declines and Hispanic, Asian and African American populations grow _ and that change is happening quickly in certain places.
While whites remain the largest racial or ethnic group nationwide, accounting for 60% of all Americans, 109 counties in 22 states from California to North Carolina went from majority white to majority nonwhite since 2000, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Census data.
The study looked only at the counties with a minimum population of 10,000 in 2018, but those counties represent 77% of the nation's 3,142 counties and include 99% of the population.
Overall, 293 counties were majority nonwhite in 2018, most of them concentrated in California, the South, and the East Coast, Pew said.
In coming years, several large, majority-white counties may flip in coming years. Those include Fairfax County, Va.; Pima County, Ariz.; Milwaukee County, Wis.; and Cobb County, Ga. All have populations that are less than 52% white.
In 21 of the 25 biggest counties by population, nonwhite groups taken together make up more than half of residents.
Eight of these counties were majority white in 2000 but have since changed: San Diego, Orange, Riverside and Sacramento in California; Clark in Nevada; Broward in Florida; Tarrant in Texas, and Wayne in Michigan.
_The Philadelphia Inquirer
