Increasing Diversity in Largest Metros

SSDAN and Brookings Institution demographer Bill Frey analyzed data from Census 2010 and found that minorities comprise the majority in 32 of the 50 largest metro areas in America. Many cities, especially in the South and Southwest, are plurality black or plurality Hispanic, while others remain plurality but not majority non-Hispanic white. Cities in the great plains tend to remain majority white.

Within cities, minorities are increasingly following whites into the suburbs with 35% of suburban residents now minorities. Heavily concentrated in metro areas, Hispanics make up 26% of city dwellers, 17% of suburbanites and 16% of the population overall. Blacks make up 22% of city dwellers, 10% of suburbanites and 12% of the population overall. The Census Bureau itself predicts that the nation as a whole will be majority-minority by 2042 due to heavy immigration from Central America and higher birthrates among Hispanics than among non-Hispanic whites.

This graphic from the Wall Street Journal shows the plurality ethnic groups in the 100 largest metro areas in the United States. ZM cf