Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think it’s less that St. Louis doesn’t have a relatively high black population but it’s more that there’s not a lot of minorities outside of the black population, and that’s a pretty common thing with a lot of rust-belt urban areas all the way to upstate NY.
Fair point. I suppose I’m also a little surprised Boston is that white as well. They have a pretty decent Afro Puerto Rican and Vietnamese population. Minneapolis also has a high Vietnamese population.
Note that most of the West isn’t really that Diverse. Phoenix for example is basically white and Mexican. Boston is blacker and more Asian than Phoenix for example. And it’s Hispanic population of much more diverse. Denver is similar. It’s minority population is over 80% Mexican.
As well as Boston has significant white immigrant groups (Middle Eastern, Portuguese)
I'm not saying Western metros are diverse, I was just expressing surprise that Boston is as white as it is. It's technically classified as super-majority white, while other metros like NYC, LA, Miami, SF, DC, and Atlanta are minority-majority.
OP, these "metropolitan area" statistics are not particularly useful. The suburbs of just about any large city are predominantly white (well, Honolulu and some places in CA are special cases, as the whites are probably the minority there). It WOULD be useful to see a list of the large CITIES with a large white population, if you are into that sort of statistics.
That’s not as true as it use to be. Many of the largest metro areas have very racially diverse suburbs.
I'm not saying Western metros are diverse, I was just expressing surprise that Boston is as white as it is. It's technically classified as super-majority white, while other metros like NYC, LA, Miami, SF, DC, and Atlanta are minority-majority.
But Boston is more diverse than Denver which is Mexican and white and basically that’s it. Boston hassle far broader mix of people.
I think with Pittsburgh, it is a matter of not really having a substantial 3rd or 4th group in the area. I say that because many of its eastern suburbs and mill towns have substantial to high black populations/percentages.
It's two things:
1. Pittsburgh was in on the first wave of the Great Migration of black people from the South (1910-1930), but not the second wave (1950-1970), because Pittsburgh's economy peaked in 1950 instead of 1970, like it did in the major Midwestern metropolitan areas. This explains why, for example, the Cleveland metropolitan area has twice as many black people as the Pittsburgh metropolitan area despite the similar size and close proximity of both metropolitan areas, because Cleveland's economy peaked in 1970, so it was in on both waves of the Great Migration.
2. Pittsburgh's economy collapsed shortly after the passage of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, which opened the door for the first waves of immigrants from Asia and Latin America. As a result, it missed out on those first waves of immigrants, and subsequently missed out on the chain immigration that followed. This is why the foreign-born percentage of the population of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area bottomed out in 1990 instead of 1970, like it did for the United States at large. Whatever immigrant population it has now, almost all of it has arrived this century.
But Boston is more diverse than Denver which is Mexican and white and basically that’s it. Boston hassle far broader mix of people.
Sure, among their respective minority populations, I can agree that Boston is more diverse, but I just found it surprising that Boston is nearly supermajority white while Denver is not. I had imagined Boston to have more similar demographics to say Chicago or Philadelphia.
Portland was a surprise not seeing it in the top 10 for most white, since it has a small black population and a relatively small Hispanic population, especially compared to most West Coast metros. But it has a pretty big Asian population.
No it doesn't. Portland Metro is under 6% Asian, while it's nearly 11% Hispanic. That means the Portland Metro has nearly double the Hispanic population than it does Asian.
No it doesn't. Portland Metro is under 6% Asian, while it's nearly 11% Hispanic. That means the Portland Metro has nearly double the Hispanic population than it does Asian.
Hispanics (18.7%) outnumber Asians (6.0%) in most metro areas and the nation as a whole. Thus a hypothetical metro with 10% Asians and 12% Hispanics would have a "relatively large" Asian and "relatively small" Hispanic population, even if their Hispanic population is the larger group. The Portland area is now 7.1% Asian and 13.2% Hispanic. https://data.dispatch.com/census/tot...rea/320-38900/
Something else to keep in mind is that if mixed race populations are allocated to their respective groups, the individual race %s (Black, Asian, White, Native American, Pacific Islander, etc.) would all increase. This is particularly true in much of the Western US.
The Hispanic population, being an ethnicity rather than race, is not impacted by the mixed race statistic. My guess is most people with a mix of Hispanic and non-Hispanic backgrounds would respond with "yes" to the Hispanic origin question. So the Hispanic numbers are in that respect maximized in a way the single background race categories are not.
Something else to keep in mind is that if mixed race populations are allocated to their respective groups, the individual race %s (Black, Asian, White, Native American, Pacific Islander, etc.) would all increase. This is particularly true in much of the Western US.
The Hispanic population, being an ethnicity rather than race, is not impacted by the mixed race statistic. My guess is most people with a mix of Hispanic and non-Hispanic backgrounds would respond with "yes" to the Hispanic origin question. So the Hispanic numbers are in that respect maximized in a way the single background race categories are not.
That's an interesting (and plausible) hypothesis but I'd be curious if there is any actual data on that. Is a half Hispanic, half anglo person more likely to mark "hispanic" than a half anglo, half Asian person is to mark "asian"? I could see that being true but I don't know that is a given.
I tend to think that a mostly anglo Texan with one Mexican grandmother is probably not marking "Hispanic" on the census, but I really don't know. On the other hand I do believe that my half Asian friends typically mark "Asian", as their skin is not white.
That's an interesting (and plausible) hypothesis but I'd be curious if there is any actual data on that. Is a half Hispanic, half anglo person more likely to mark "hispanic" than a half anglo, half Asian person is to mark "asian"? I could see that being true but I don't know that is a given.
I tend to think that a mostly anglo Texan with one Mexican grandmother is probably not marking "Hispanic" on the census, but I really don't know. On the other hand I do believe that my half Asian friends typically mark "Asian", as their skin is not white.
I'm not sure either - but the race and Hispanic origin questions are presented differently on the census form. The race question is multiple choice where people are asked to select one or more boxes. The Hispanic origin question is binary, where people select either yes or no. I realize it is not entirely cut and dried how to respond if someone has a distant blood relative somewhere in the family tree who has a Hispanic background, when the remainder of their background is non-Hispanic (or vice versa).
Someone who identifies as both White and Asian and selects both race boxes will be counted as neither for the purpose of "White Alone" and "Asian Alone" statistics, which are the most commonly presented measure used to compare different locations. They will be counted in the mixed race population, and also the "White plus other race" and "Asian plus other race" categories. As more Americans identify as having two or more races (up from 2.9% in 2010 to 10.2% in 2020), this results in lower percentages for the single race categories. In fact, this is a major driver behind reports of population decline among Whites, slow growth for Blacks, and an understatement of rapid Asian growth at a national level and in many specific locations.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
