U.S. minorities pass 100 million

The nation’s minority population has topped 100 million for the first time and now makes up about a third of the United States, a symbolic milestone that signals more challenges for communities adapting to diversity.

Hispanics are fanning out to more states across the nation, creating a sharp contrast between their predominantly young numbers and those of an aging white society, according to Census population estimates out Thursday.

The age gap is widening as every state experiences a growth in Hispanics since 2000.

Hispanics remain the largest minority group at 44.3 million and accounted for almost half the nation’s growth of 2.9 million from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006. As Hispanics settle in areas where whites are aging and fewer are being born, they’re transforming classrooms, workplaces and entire communities.

The non-Hispanic white school-age population grew 4 percent since 2000, while the number of Hispanic school-age children surged 21 percent. The white under-15 population declined in all but nine states since 2000.

“The melting pot in America is really bubbling at the younger age,” says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution.

In Nevada, for example, one in every four residents was Hispanic in 2006, compared with one in five in 2000. It had the fastest-growing population under age 15, and Hispanic youths accounted for 67 percent of those gains.

“The pronounced differences between Hispanic populations and non-Hispanic populations agewise sets the stage in coming decades for very different political agendas,” says Peter Morrison, demographer at the RAND Corp. “(There are) two very different sets of economic interests: People who want health care versus people who want jobs.”

Census estimates also show:

“Non-Hispanic blacks grew 1.1 percent to 36.7 million from 2005 to 2006 but declined in three states and the District of Columbia. Hurricane Katrina decimated Louisiana’s black population, which dropped by about 130,000 in one year.

“The white population has shrunk in 16 states this decade, including California, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

“There are 2.5 million more non-Hispanic Asian Americans since 2000, a 24.4 percent increase to 12.9 million.

“New England is becoming the new Florida as the median age climbs in most states in the region. Maine has the oldest median age (41.1) in the nation, up from third place in 2000. The U.S. median age is 36.4.

Vermont (40.4) moved up to second place from fifth. “We may be attracting college-age people, but when they graduate, they leave the state,” says Will Sawyer, a state data specialist at the University of Vermont.

“They come back to Vermont in their 40s.”

“Florida still has the highest share of elderly (16.8 percent), but it’s aging more slowly than other states. Its median age is 39.6, ranking it fifth.

“Immigration accounts for more than 40 percent of the United States’ growth since 2000. “It’s pretty impressive,” Morrison says.

“Two-fifths of why our population is growing is from people being drawn to our nation.”