Latino populations in Fresno, Valley grow as white residents decline in new US census
Last year’s decennial U.S. Census shows that in Fresno County and neighboring counties in the central San Joaquin Valley, the populace became more ethnically diverse – and, largely, less white – over the past decade.
The trend in the Valley largely mirrors what’s being revealed nationally in 2020 Census details released this week. That includes some of the first piles of what will be mountains of data that will be sifted from what was intended to be a comprehensive every-10-years count of the nation’s population.
In 2010, 55.4% of Fresno County residents identified themselves as white. That percentage shrank to 41.2% as of April 1, 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on Thursday.
In fact, all six Valley counties – Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties – saw significant declines in the population that declared themselves white, while the share of the populace identifying as Asian, some other race, or two or more races in combination grew.
The only county in the region that maintained a white majority of residents is Mariposa County. Even there, however, the percentage of whites dropped from more than 88% in the 2010 census to just over 78% in 2020.
The changes in the white share of the population in other Valley counties between 2010 and 2020 were:
- Kings County: 54.3% in 2010, 40.2% in 2020.
- Madera County: 62.6% in 2010, 41.8% in 2020.
- Merced County: 58% in 2010, 37.2% in 2020.
- Tulare County: 60.1% in 2010, 39.4% in 2020.
“The U.S. population is much more multiracial and much more racially and ethnically diverse than what we have measured in the past,” Nicholas Jones, director of race and ethnic research for the U.S. Census Bureau, said Thursday.
The Hispanic population in Fresno County and the Valley grew by more than 169,000 over the past decade, including an increase of almost 73,000 in Fresno County. Hispanic residents may be of any race, as a demographic segment that is based on Latin American heritage rather than racial makeup.
Hispanic people of any race numbered 540,000, or about 53.6% of the Fresno County population of just under 1.1 million residents. That’s a percentage increase of about 3.3% compared to the 2010 census.
In other Valley counties, the changes in the Hispanic share of the population were:
- Kings County: 50.9% in 2010, 56.8% in 2020.
- Madera County: 53.7% in 2010, 59.6% in 2020.
- Mariposa County: 9.2% in 2010, 12.5% in 2020.
- Merced County: 54.9% in 2010, 61.8% in 2020.
- Tulare County: 60.6% in 2010, 65.5% in 2020.
The most dramatic demographic shift in every Valley county was among residents who identified themselves as comprising two ore more races in combination. The multi-racial proportion of the population in each Valley county in the 2010 census was less than 5%. In the 2020 census, however, those shares tripled or more in most of the counties:
- Fresno County: 4.5% multi-racial in 2010, 16.2% in 2020.
- Kings County: 4.9% in 2010, 15.9% in 2020.
- Madera County: 4.2% in 2010, 16.2% in 2020.
- Mariposa County: 4.1% in 2010, 11.9% in 2020.
- Merced County: 4.7% in 2010, 17.6% in 2020.
- Tulare County: 4.2% in 2010, 18.3% in 2020.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
This story was originally published August 15, 2021 at 9:35 AM.
