Reflecting a demographic shift, 109 U.S. counties have become majority nonwhite since 2000

Between 2000 and 2018, 109 U.S. counties went from majority white to majority non-white according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. The report finds that 21 of the 25 biggest U.S. counties (by population) are made up of majority non-white residents, with eight of these counties moving from majority white to majority non-white in the 21st century. The author notes that many of the most populous counties with a majority non-white population are in California, the South or the East Coast, with few majority minority communities in the center of the country. Georgia counties stand out as having some of the largest shifts. The analysis highlights that U.S. demographics can also shift in the opposite direction. From 2000-2018, just two small counties, Calhoun County in South Carolina and West Feliciana Parish in Louisiana (with relatively small populations of about 15,000 each) went from minority white to majority white. The future of U.S. demographics is still unstable. As the number of multiracial Americans grows, the way they choose to identify will have lasting effects on the landscape of U.S. racial and ethnic composition. (Samantha Jones for The Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute)

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