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Forsyth diversity up; Hispanics led increase in population in 2008
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Published: May 14, 2009
Hispanics remained the fastest-growing ethnic group in Forsyth County from 2007 to 2008, according to new estimates released last night by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Hispanic population increased by 7.5 percent, to 37,235. Hispanics accounted for 48 percent of the county's estimated increase of 5,389 people in the July 1 to July 1 period.
Overall, the county's population-growth rate slowed to 1.6 percent.
All ethnic groups, including Hispanics, increased in population at a slower rate than in the period from 2006 to 2007:
□ Whites increased by 0.5 percent to a 2008 total of 210,231.
□ Blacks by 1.5 percent to 85,954.
□ Asians by 4.9 percent to 4,984.
Alfred Stuart, an emeritus professor of geography at UNC Charlotte, said he believes that fewer people are moving because of the economy.
"People are hunkering down and kind of holding on best they can throughout the country," said Stuart, a co-editor of the North Carolina Atlas. He said that the state's population will likely grow faster when the economy improves.
Forsyth County's total population as of July 1, 2008, was 343,028. Hispanics were 10.9 percent of the total, up from 10.3 percent in 2007. Whites were 61.3 percent of the population, down from 61.9 percent in 2007. Blacks remained at 25.1 percent of the county's population. The Census Bureau estimated that the county had 1,074 American Indians and 125 Pacific islanders.
The race totals are for people claiming only one race. There were an estimated 3,425 people of more than one race. Under Census Bureau definitions, the Hispanic designation is a separate category from race, and Hispanics may be of any race.
The Rev. Fermin Bocanegra of Iglesia Cristiana Wesleyana in Kernersville said that Hispanics who move to Forsyth County tend to come from rural areas of Mexico because North Carolina is known among Hispanic immigrants for its farming and factory jobs.
Bocanegra said that when one Hispanic person migrates to North Carolina, their families and friends often follow.
"It's like a close-knit society that helps others very quickly," he said. "People get in and they come with nothing -- just with the shirt on their back -- and within a week, they are already working, doing something.… And how they do it is through this network they have already that is established here."
The Census Bureau said that estimates broken down by age and ethnicity showed a more diverse population emerging in the country. About half of the nation's children under age 5 were in a minority group in 2008, and 25 percent of them were Hispanic.
In Forsyth County, the trend was even more pronounced: Among children under 5, non-Hispanic whites made up only 44 percent of the total in 2008. Hispanics overtook blacks in the under-5 category in 2007, and in 2008 outnumbered them 6,505 to 6,389 in that age group, according to Census Bureau estimates for people claiming only one race. At the other end of the age spectrum, Hispanics made up only about 1 percent of the population in 2008 among those over 85 years old.
The Census Bureau reported that Orange County in Florida was among six counties in the country that had become majority-minority between 2007 and 2008. Majority-minority is defined as more than half of the population in an area being of a group other than non-Hispanic, single-race whites.
Four states were majority-minority in 2008: Hawaii (75 percent), New Mexico (58 percent), California (58 percent) and Texas (53 percent).
North Carolina's Hispanic population grew by about 7.4 percent during the year to an estimated 2008 total of 684,770, the Census Bureau said. Hispanics made up 7.4 percent of the state's population, up from 7 percent in 2007.
Among North Carolinians, whites increased 1.3 percent to 6,198,438, and blacks grew by 2 percent to 1,955,342. Asians were up 4.9 percent to 173,040. Whites made up 67.2 percent of the state's population, down from 67.6 percent, while blacks remained at 21.2 percent of the total.
■ Wesley Young can be reached at 727-7369 or at wyoung@wsjournal.com.
■ Journal reporter Laura Graff contributed to this article.
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