Immigration drove Hispanic White, Asian population growth in US last year

by V. Lance Tarrance, Jr.

A very important study of U.S. Census data was just released this week.  It has some key Hispanic population data that we all need to acknowledge.  This new data is derived from the annual U.S. Census Survey called the Current Population Survey (CPS).  The scope of this survey is to update the big decennial census of the U.S. (the next one 2030) by calibrating intra-Census results each year.  In other words, there won’t be any surprises in the next 2030 Census.  It should be noted that the median age of all Americans is 38.9 years, fueled by Baby Boomers getting older.  This means that the U.S. population has half of its total more than about 40 years old and another half about under 40 years of age.

In summary, almost 65 million people self-identified this year as Hispanic in the U.S., an almost 2% increase just over the last year.  The U.S. population profile can be revisited as:

• Non-Hispanic Whites (mostly descendents of European continental  immigration antecedents)
• Hispanic White population (approximately two thirds of specific Mexican descendancy)
• Black or African American-Caribbean descendents
• The newly important  and upwardly mobile Asian  population
• All others

Here are some key excerpts that need to be cited from  the full article below:

1. Without immigration, the non-Hispanic white population in the U.S. would have declined last year.
2. Population growth is propelled in two ways: through immigration and natural increase, when births outpace deaths. The data released Thursday speaks to the complexity of the nation’s ever-shifting population patterns and reinforces a level of nuance not always reflected amid the political debate over immigration
3. The Hispanic population in the U.S. grew by more than 1million people in the last 12 months, the biggest jump in pure numbers of any race or ethnic group. Two-thirds of that expansion was driven by natural increase, or births outpacing deaths. More than 63.3million people identified as Hispanic Whites last year, a 1.7% increase over the previous year.
4. The biggest Hispanic growth in pure numbers was in Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, which added almost 35,000 Latinos last year. The Black population in the US stood at 50 million residents in 2022. Harris County, Texas, had the largest numeric gain of Black residents of any U.S. county, with almost 23,000 new residents from the last 12 months.

The article from AP News:

Immigration drove Hispanic White, Asian population growth in US last year

By MIKE SCHNEIDER June 22, 2023