Where is Fresno’s Latino population growing the fastest? Explore our maps to learn more
People of Hispanic or Latino origin make up a larger overall share of Fresno County’s population than they did 10 years ago.
But between 2010 and 2020, the proportion of Hispanic residents shrank in some of the areas that had the highest concentrations a decade ago, while the percentages soared in fast-growing parts of the county where Latinos represented a smaller share of the overall population.
The U.S. Census Bureau released county-level population data over the summer from the 2020 Census. It recently made available to the public information on population and housing down to the census tract level.
The area in Fresno County that experienced the greatest growth spurt among both Hispanic residents and the overall population was Census Tract 59.12, east of Clovis and south of the Harlan Ranch subdivision. The tract is generally east of Locan and DeWolf avenues and west of McCall Avenue, sprawling from Tollhouse Road on the north to the Gould Canal and Clinton Avenue on the south.
That census tract saw almost 2,600 new homes built between 2010 and 2020, accompanied by a population explosion from fewer than 3,300 residents to more than 10,600 – an increase of just over 224%. During the same span, the Hispanic population climbed by more than 385% in that census tract, growing from about 550 Latino residents in 2010 to 2,665 in 2020.
Still, while Hispanic residents of any race make up almost 54% of Fresno County’s overall population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the quasi-rural Census Tract 59.12 remains – like much of the eastern portion of the county – an area in which non-Hispanic whites are either a dominant plurality or outright majority of the population.
The data down to the tract level comes from last year’s decennial Census, and represents the official count as of April 1, 2020, for the purposes of drawing new legislative districts at the federal, state and local level. The Census also represents the basis for which money is allocated by population for many federal grant and funding programs, as well.
Countywide, Hispanic residents number almost 541,000. Because Hispanic is a designation of ethnicity based on heritage rooted in Spanish-speaking countries, people who are Hispanic may be of any race.
Non-Hispanic whites represent the second-largest segment of Fresno County’s population, just under 272,000 or 27% of the total population of just over 1 million residents. Including ethnic Hispanic residents who identify racially as white, the overall white population amounts to about 37% of the county’s people. That’s down from 55.4% of residents who identified as white in the 2010 Census.
Among other non-Hispanic residents, the proportions included:
- Asian: 109,665 people, or 10.9% of the population in Fresno County.
- Black or African-American: 44,295 people or 4.4% of the population.
- Multi-racial (two or more races): 29,546 people or 2.9% of the population.
- Native American or Alaska Native: 6,074 people or 0.6% of the population.
- Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: 1,233 people or 0.1% of the population.
- Some other single race: 5,209, or 0.5% of the population.
