U.S. Census 2020: The Hispanic and Asian Nation

(That number was the entire U.S. population in Lincoln's day)

 

We recently did a deep-dive into the 2020 U.S. Census numbers, showing the demographic changes over a century in America's largest cities.

Today we take a more zoomed-in view, looking at the changes from 1980 to 2020. Our British Isles founding fathers launched a nation 'for ourselves and our posterity;' that nation is slowly but surely ebbing away.

What do the numbers say?

 

 

 1. The Midwest

We start with the Midwest, industrial center whose Hispanic and Asian population has gone steadily up:

 

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Detroit is the largest American city to be 80% black.  Its Hispanic population at 8% is only slightly lower than its white population (9.5%). Note: Arabs, of whom there are a quarter million in the greater Detroit area, are counted as 'white.'

Chicago has reached parity among its white, black and Hispanic populations. Asians now clock in at 5.2%.

 

 

Old industrial powerhouse Cleveland is now 65% non-white.

A rare majority-white big city in its region, Indy's Euro population has nonetheless fallen  to 50% this year. Hispanics have jumped from 1% to 13%.

 

U.S. murder capital St. Louis now has Blacks and Whites at parity. Hispanics come in at a low 5%; Asians at 4%.

Milwaukee is now one-fifth Latino. Its white population has plummeted to only 32% this year.

Modern-day Des Moines is 16% Hispanic and 7% Asian, while its white share has tumbled from 90% to 65% in forty years.

'Everything's up to date in Kansas City,' including multiculturalism: It is just over half Euro-descended at this point.

Minneapolis has gone from whitopia in 1980 to a racial strife-ridden 19% black, 10% Hispanic, and 6% Asian today.

 

 

 2. The East Coast

The great cities of the East Coast tell us their demographic story:

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NYC is now firmly majority-minority, with Asians (15%) slowly gaining on Blacks (20%).

 

Newark was decimated by white flight after the 1960s riots. Blacks and Hispanics (49% and 36%) have now almost completely succeeded in pushing out Whites.

Hispanics have jumped from 4% to 16% in Philly, with Asians charging ahead at 8%. Whites continue to flee the city in droves.

 

A huge gentrifying push is underway in D.C., with the black population falling from 70% forty years ago to 51% in 2010 to just 41% today.

 

Baltimore consistently ranks in the most dangerous U.S. cities: Currently #1 in robbery, #2 in murder, #5 in burglary (for large cities). Hispanics and Asians are still a small presence, just over 10% together.

Boston's Irish fought against busing in 1980, but are now down to 45% of the population. Hispanics and Blacks are neck-and-neck at 19% and Asians an impressive 11%.

We've included two far north-eastern cities, considered some of the whitest in the country.  Will these enclaves stay that way?

 Both hovering at around 80% white... for how long?

 3. The South

The South has lived a different racial story since colonial times.  Home to plantation slavery and thus to most of the U.S.'s Blacks before 1910, she lost millions in the following decades to the industrial centers of the North.

 

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The demographic (and crime) differences between the two Tennessee cities below have been remarked upon.

Memphis's negligible Latino population has now jumped to 10%, with Asians creeping up to 2%.

Country-music capital Nashville is becoming just another melting pot, with Latinos now at 14% and Asians at 4%.

 

Radical changes in 40 years: Charlotte has dropped to 40% white, with Hispanics surging to 16% and Asians to 7%.

 

 

 

Atlanta is the 'black mecca' and concentrates much of the wealth of America's old-guard Afro elite. It is however less black than 40 years ago, and considerably more Latino and Asian.

 

Birmingham has cemented its status as the Detroit of the South. It is a completely dysfunctional black-run municipality with a negligible Latino/Asian presence.

 

 

The 'chocolate city' is getting spicier-- now over 10% Hispanic/Asian.

 

 Though technically a Southern city, Miami has become more Latin American than heritage American, currently standing at 70% Hispanic and just 14% white.

 

 

 4. The Great Basin

Home to some of the last real 'Whitopias' in the country, the Great Basin states are nonetheless diversifying in their way, especially due to Hispanics.

 

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'Whitopia' no more: Omaha's Hispanic and Asian populations have crept up to 16% and 6%, respectively.

How far will the hispanifying of Denver go? The city stands at 28% Hispanic as of 2020.

The Mormon capital's Latino population has jumped from 8% to 21% these last forty years.

 Big Sky Country remains largely ethnic-Euro, with vanishingly few Afros but a growing Hispanic presence (7% and 9% for Billings and Boise).

5. The Southwest

The Southwest is of course under immense demographic pressure from Latin America.  This region lives its own story, with parts of Anglo-America perhaps already extinct here.  

 

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Alongside the Hispanic incursion, these two cities are undergoing waves of Chinese and Indian influx. 

Nearly identical transformations in these two cities in forty years: Texas is clearly on its way to becoming a part of greater Latin America, whether de jure or de facto.

The white population of Sin City has plummeted to 40%, while Hispanics are hot on their heels at 33%.

The White/Hispanic ratio of Phoenix has taken a dive in the last two generations: They are now neck-and-neck at near 40% each.

The hispanifying of Albuquerque continues apace, now at nearly 50% Latino--significantly outnumbering Whites.

 6. The West Coast

The West Coast is home to a centuries-old Asian presence which seems to have jumped after the 1965 Immigration Act.  What will be the fallout if current trends continue?

  

 

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L.A. continues to become Latin America, its white-Hispanic ratio having reversed these last 40 years. Asians cement their presence at an impressive 12%.

 

San Francisco and San Jose: Headed for a Euro-Asian overclass and an Afro-Hispanic underclass?

Asians are now a whopping 34% in San Francisco, likely soon to overcome Whites for first place in the city by the bay.

 

In Silicon Valley's capital, the richest zip code in the country, Asians far outnumber Whites--a historical first.

 

 

Historically black Oakland is gentrifying at breakneck speed; Asians now at 17% and growing.

 

The Whites of the Pacific Northwest have long sung the praises of people of color, from afar. Are the objects of their affection finally moving into their cities? 

Seattle's white population has fallen to 59%, a historic low, while its Asians have jumped to 17% in the last census.

 Portland's white share has fallen to 66%, while Asians and Hispanics together now make up one-fifth of the city.

 

 *     *     *

'Ourselves and our posterity': Soon to be only a quaintly remembered slogan, spoken by men whose descendents have now opened the doors of their little ethno-centric colony to the four corners of Planet Earth.

To be continued...