Census charts rising diversity in NY burbs
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- May
- 14
Click here for a new database showing how the local population is growing and shrinking among different ages and ethnic groups. A few things that stand out in the Census Bureau’s estimates from 2000 to 2008:
- Westchester’s Hispanic population reached 20 percent in 2008, up from 16 percent at the start of the decade. Overall, the Lower Hudson Valley’s Hispanic population is growing steadily, and the black population has remained about the same since 2000.
- Children under 5 in Westchester are now “majority-minority” — non-Hispanic whites make up 45 percent of children in this age group, Hispanics 33 percent, blacks 19 percent, and Asians 8 percent.
- Putnam’s black and Hispanic populations have grown over the decade, but the county remains overwhelmingly white (84 percent, or about 83,000 out of 99,000 people).
Nationally, the Hispanic and Asian populations are growing more slowly than in the past. AP reports that a decline in immigration — due to the economy and enforcement measures — is causing the slowdown.
The New York Times reports that rising numbers of Hispanic and Asian residents continue to fuel New York City’s growth. Manhattan is a different story, with white residents rising in number to almost half the population.
But one of the interesting patterns locally is the aging of the population. The numbers reflect a departure of young families who were priced out of the Lower Hudson Valley during the real estate bubble. (These numbers are too recent to show the full effects of the recession.) According to research by our data analyst Tim Henderson, the number of 30-something adults dropped by a quarter since 2000, while numbers of people in their late 50s grew by more than that. We’re also seeing a substantial drop in the numbers of young children. (Update: See our Journal News article here.)
Immigrants of working age are partly replacing the young people who left, experts say, and that’s helping to make the population more diverse.
School officials have already noticed a decrease in kindergarten enrollments. Jim Reese, Irvington’s assistant superintendent for business, told me today:
The way I look at it is the more expensive the housing, usually the fewer the students. Because families just starting out … are less likely to be able to afford communities where the median price of the housing is very high. They’re likely to try to relocate someplace else.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 4:07 pm by Leah Rae.
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“Diversity” or “white flight” from an overtaxed and over-socialist statist governance?
Exactly LiblieExposer. As the Hispanic population explodes
and the middle class continues to get screwed to pay for them you will see alot more of this. It is called white flight. In 15 years when the baby boomers all leave Westchester it will only leave the few filthy rich and the
dirt poor. Westchester will turn into a social service slum. I guess then the libs will have to put out their own money to help the needy. Fat chance of that happening.