The South is Rising -- And the West, Too

This comes from reporter Will Sullivan:

The South is rising again. And so is the West.

That's the word from the U.S. Census Bureau, which minutes ago released its list of the counties experiencing the largest population increases between 2000 and 2006. The list points to the soaring population in the Sun Belt, where all but one of the 30 counties with the largest population growth are located. Topping the list is Arizona's Maricopa County, which has gained 696,000 residents since 2000.

The ranking testifies to the tremendous growth of America's Hispanic population and the powerful role it will play in the country's future population growth. Latinos made up only about 14.5 percent of the population in 2005. (The Census Bureau estimates the population growth of the counties until 2006, but breakdowns by race and Hispanic origin are available only up to 2005.)

Yet in the 10 counties experiencing the largest numerical population increases, approximately 1.8 million of the 2.9 million people added between 2000 and 2005 were Hispanic. About 61.9 percent of the growth in the 10 counties can be attributed to Hispanics overall.

In some of the fastest-growing counties, Hispanics were virtually the only reason the county grew at all. In Harris County, Texas, which ranks second in population increase, 90.7 percent of that growth between 2000 and 2005 came from Latinos. In fourth-ranked Los Angeles County, they made up a whopping 97.9 percent of the population rise. (Those figures factor in people who leave the county as well.) Only about 8,000 non-Hispanic Los Angelenos moved to the county between 2000 and 2005, compared to about 407,000 Hispanics.

For the 10 counties adding people the fastest, the percentage of increase represented by Hispanics is as follows:

U.S. News reporter Silla Brush wrote on America's population growth and the surging Hispanic population in September. By 2050, America is expected to be home to over 102 million Hispanics, compared with fewer than 42 million in 2005.