U.S. Census Bureau data newly released Thursday paints America as a more diverse and urban country today than it was 10 years ago.
About 86% of the country’s population lives in metro areas, the fastest growing area being a right-leaning retirement community in Florida. Diversity skyrocketed, and for the first time in history, the country’s white population shrank. But the country also grew at its slowest pace since the 1930s.
Here’s a look at key trends from Thursday’s Census report that show which statistics rose and fell over the last decade.
Statistics that are up
1. Diversity
America is more diverse than it was 10 years ago.
The chance that two people chosen at random in a given area will be from two different racial or ethnic groups now lies at 61.1%, an increase of 6.2% from 2010, according to the Census’ Diversity Index calculation. The country’s highest Diversity Index score belongs to Hawaii, at 76% -- a bit less than a percent increase from 2010.
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The multiracial population skyrocketed over the last 10 years, rising from 9 million people identifying as multiracial in 2010 to 33.8 million in 2020 -- an increase of 276%.
Overall, the U.S. is 57.8% white, 18.7% Hispanic, 12.1% Black and 11.4% Asian or otherwise.
More:New Census numbers paint picture of race and ethnicity in U.S. But how are those defined?
2. Cities and metro areas
City living is on the rise. The Census Bureau said today that 312 of the 384 U.S. metro areas gained population between 2010 and 2020. Now, 86% of the country’s population lives in U.S. metro areas, compared to 85% in 2010.
The four largest cities in the country remain New York (8.8 million), Los Angeles (3.8 million), Chicago (2.7 million) and Houston (2.3 million people), though Phoenix beat out Philadelphia to become the fifth-largest city in the country, making it the fastest-growing major city over the last decade. For the first time, the population of each of the country’s 10 largest cities surpassed 1 million.
Just 72 metro areas lost population between 2010 and 2020, the largest declines occurring in Pine Bluff, Ark. (-12.5%), and Danville, Ill. (-9.1%).
More:Big counties get bigger as large metro areas lead population growth in 2020 census
3. Florida’s The Villages
Speaking of metro areas, one grew faster than the rest: The Villages, a Florida retirement community about 45 minutes from Orlando.
The community is notably conservative and made news in July 2020 when former President Donald Trump posted a video from there in which a man in a golf cart shouts “White power” after being heckled for toting MAGA signage. The White House said at the time that Trump did not hear the statement being made in the video, the New York Times reported.
The area’s population grew from about 93,000 to about 130,000, a 39% increase, over the last 10 years, the highest percent jump of any metro area in the country.
4. Housing
The U.S. has 6.7% more housing units in 2020 than in 2010, reaching nearly 140.5 million. But the growth hasn’t been equal in all parts of the country.
“While the national number of housing units grew over the past decade, this was not uniform throughout the country,” said Evan Brassell, chief of the housing statistics branch in the Census Bureau’s social, economic and housing statistics division. “Counties that composed some part of a metropolitan or micropolitan area saw increases of 3.8%, on average, while counties outside of these areas showed decreases of 3.9% on average.”
Of those nearly 140.5 million housing units, just 126.8 million were occupied. There are nearly 13.7 million vacant units in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau data.
West Virginia and Puerto Rico were the only states or state equivalents that lost ne housing units.
5. South and Southwest
The regions that saw the most significant increases in population were the South and Southwest of America.
“The South leads the way with 10 of the top 15 fastest-growing large U.S. cities, with a population of 50,000 or more, according to new population estimates for cities and towns,” the Census Bureau said in May.
New maps released today show starkly that these states’ populations are on the rise.
Statistics that are down
1. White-only population
The country’s white-alone population decreased 8.6% in the last decade, the first time it’s decreased in census history, which dates back to 1790.
“These changes reveal that the US population is much more multiracial, and more racially and ethnically diverse, than what we measured in the past,” Nicholas Jones, the director of race, ethnicity, research and outreach for the Census Bureau's population division, said, while cautioning that some of the changes can be attributed to improvements to the survey.
Still, the U.S. white, non-Hispanic population remained the largest race or ethnicity group in the United States.
2. The Midwest and Northeast
While the South and Southwest saw significant population increases, the Midwest and Northeast saw the opposite. Maps published Thursday show the stark divide in growth across the country down regional lines.
3. Rural counties
More than half of America’s 3,143 counties or equivalent saw population declines between 2010 and 2020. Most of the country’s population growth in the U.S. happened in metropolitan areas, about four-fifths of which added people during the decade.
4. Under-18 population
There are fewer minors in the U.S. this decade than last, the Census Bureau data shows.
The country had a population of about 73.1 million individuals under 18 in 2020, about 1.4% fewer than in 2010. The largest population under 18 belongs to Utah, where 29.0% of the population is under 18, and the fastest growing under-18 population is in North Dakota, which saw 22.1% growth in the last decade.
On the flipside, the adult population grew faster than the nation as a whole, Andrew Roberts, chief of the sex and age statistics branch in the Census Bureau’s population division, said.
“More than three-quarters, 77.9%, of the U.S. population were age 18 and over,” Roberts said.
5. Overall population growth
Despite growing urban populations, the country’s overall growth has decelerated significantly.
“As we’ve been seeing in our annual population estimates, our nation is growing slower than it used to,” said Marc Perry, a senior demographer at the Census Bureau.
The population grew by 7.4% over the past decade, the slowest pace recorded since the Great Depression.
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