California: Now More Latino Than White

Via the Los Angeles Times:

The demographers agreed: At some point in 2014, Latinos would pass whites as the largest ethnic group in California. Determining when exactly that milestone would occur was more of a tricky question. Counting people isn't like counting movie ticket receipts. The official confirmation had to wait until new population figures were released by the Census Bureau this summer. The new tally, released in late June, shows that as of July 1, 2014, about 14.99 million Latinos live in California, edging out the 14.92 million whites in the state. The shift shouldn't come as a surprise. State demographers had previously expected the change to occur sometime in 2013, but slow population growth pushed back projections. In January 2014, the state Department of Finance estimated the shift would take place at some point in March. Either way, the moment has officially arrived. California is now the first large state and the third overall — after Hawaii and New Mexico — without a white plurality, according to state officials. The country's Latino population is now 55.4 million. California and Los Angeles County have the largest Latino populations of any state or county in the nation, according to the new figures.

For some reason Breitbart has illustrated their anger about the report with a photo of a very buff wrestler.

Florida Surpasses New York In Population

Via the Orlando Sentinel:

First it was this: Orlando beat New York City as the first city to top 50 million visitors. Census figures released Tuesday show Florida passed New York as the nation's third largest state with an estimated population of 19.9 million. New York, now fourth, has 19.7 million. "There are a lot of benchmarks, but this is the biggest one. This puts an exclamation point on it," said William H. Frey, a demographer with The Brookings Institution in Washington DC. Frey says the milestone caps a decades-long trend of northern migration to the South. In 1950, Florida was a fifth the size of New York. In 1980, New York was about twice as big as Florida. Florida's population of 19.9M makes it third-largest in U.S. Florida has passed New York as the nation's third largest state, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. "It's a symbol of a half-century of Snowbelt to Sunbelt growth," Frey said.

California: 38.8M, Texas: 27M.

Fort Lauderdale Tops Gay Couples Data

Via Huffington Post:

Recently released data from the U.S. Census revealed which cities have the highest concentration of same-sex couple households in the country. The surprisingly frontrunner? Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where same-sex couples make up a whopping 2.8 percent of total households. The Florida beach town has long been a destination for the vacationing LGBT community and is home to 19 gay resorts. The real jaw-dropper, however, comes with a switch-up between two much larger cities. With 2.5 percent same-sex households, San Francisco came in a narrow third (third!) to Seattle, where gay households are suddenly booming. The city leaped from an estimated 1.7 percent of households in 2011 to 2.6 percent in recent data, nudging San Francisco from its cherished gay pedestal.

I suspect that many of those Fort Lauderdale couples actually live in Wilton Manors. Here's the top ten: Fort Lauderdale, Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Portland (ME), Somerville (MA), Oakland, Providence, Washington DC, Warwick (RI).

Half Of The US Lives In These Counties

Business Insider: "Using Census data, we've figured out that half of the United States population is clustered in just the 146 biggest counties out of over 3000." The list of counties is at the link.

Census Issues Commuting Study

From a newly released study by the US Census, which categorizes a "long commute" as longer than 60 minutes:

Among U.S. workers who did not work at home, 8.1 percent had commutes of 60 minutes or longer in 2011. An estimated 61.1 percent of workers with “long commutes” drove to work alone, compared with 79.9 percent for all workers who did not work at home. New York shows the highest rate of “long commutes” at 16.2 percent, followed by Maryland and New Jersey at 14.8 and 14.6 percent, respectively. The District of Columbia has the highest rate of out-of-state commuters among its resident workers at 25.2 percent, followed by Maryland at 18.3 percent. Among all people who work in the District of Columbia, 72.4 percent live outside the District of Columbia.

(Via Gothamist)

The Census Wants Advice About Gays

Chris Geidner reports on an unprecedented move by the U.S. Census.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Friday that it is seeking advice on how to address lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations in implementing the once-a-decade census. The census, which has never counted LGBT people directly, has indirectly referenced gay people through its count of same-sex married couples and "unmarried partner" households in the past. With the formation of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations, however, the Census Bureau today stated that it will be seeking advice from the 31-member committee "on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race and ethnicity, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other populations." Specifically, the Bureau noted, the committee will provide advice on "a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau's programs and surveys, including the once-a-decade census."

Geidner speculates that the Census Bureau may be seeking a method to more accurately count (or at least estimate) the number of LGBT Americans.

RELIGION CENSUS: Fewer Than 50% Of Americans Are "Adherents" Of Christianity

According to a just-published analysis of the 2010 Religion Census, fewer than 50% of Americans are "adherents" of Christianity. The percentage who would self-identify as "Christian," regardless of church membership and attendance patterns, is presumably higher.

The researchers define adherents to be those with an affiliation to a congregation including children, members and attendees who are not members, and believe that the adherent measure is the most complete and comparable across religious groups. Congregations are defined as groups of people who meet regularly at a pre-announced time and location. More than 150.6 million Christian adherents and 344,894 congregations were reported across the country. It is noteworthy that less than 50 percent of of the nation's population identified as Christian adherents. With close to 15.8 million Christian adherents, California reported the highest number of Christian adherents, whereas Vermont reported the lowest -- only 200,000 identified as Christian adherents. Around 10 percent of the nation's Christians reside in California. With 27,248 congregations, Texas reported the highest number of congregations in a state, whereas District of Columbia reported the lowest with 566.

The above-linked reports offer no insight as the number of Americans who consider themselves atheist, agnostic, anti-theist, or merely "unchurched."

AUSTRALIA: Atheists Asked To Mark "No Religion" On Tuesday's National Census

Visit the Census Campaign for more information on why it's politically important for atheists to step forward and identify themselves.

CENSUS: No Italians Left In Little Italy

According to the U.S. Census, the number of Italian-born residents of Manhattan's Little Italy is now zero.

A census survey released in December determined that the proportion of Italian-Americans among the 8,600 residents in the same two-dozen-square-block area of Lower Manhattan had shrunk to about 5 percent. And, incredibly, the census could not find a single resident who had been born in Italy. Little Italy is becoming Littler Italy. The encroachment that began decades ago as Chinatown bulged north, SoHo expanded from the west, and other tracts were rebranded more fashionably as NoLIta (for north of Little Italy) and NoHo seems almost complete. The Little Italy that was once the heart of Italian-American life in the city exists mostly as a nostalgic memory or in the minds of tourists who still make it a must-see on their New York itinerary.

Next month the city will create the Chinatown Business Improvement District, which will include all but two square blocks of Little Italy's 50 square blocks. According to the above-linked story, 89% of the foreign-born residents of Little Italy now hail from Asian countries.

More Gays Raise Kids In The South

According to a study of data released by the U.S. Census, there are more gay couples raising children in the southern states than in urban states more traditionally considered to be gay hot spots.

Child rearing among same-sex couples is more common in the South than in any other region of the country, according to Gary Gates, a demographer at the University of California, Los Angeles. Gay couples in Southern states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas are more likely to be raising children than their counterparts on the West Coast, in New York and in New England. The pattern, identified by Mr. Gates, is also notable because the families in this region defy the stereotype of a mainstream gay America that is white, affluent, urban and living in the Northeast or on the West Coast.

One theory for the result is that southern blacks and Latinos may be more likely to have been in a heterosexual marriage with children prior to coming out.

IRELAND: Atheist Group Launches "No Religion" Census Campaign

Ireland's leading atheist group is asking former Catholics to be truthful on the upcoming census form. The "Be Honest To Godless" campaign is being supported on Facebook.

Think before you tick your answer to the religion question, and give an answer that matches your actual religious affiliation. If you still believe in God but you are no longer truly a Roman Catholic, please say so. If you are an atheist or agnostic or humanist and you have no religion, please tick the ‘No Religion’ box. Atheist Ireland wants to see accurate answers to the question on religion. The last Census showed 3.7 million Roman Catholics (that’s about 87% of the population) and 186,000 people with no religion (that’s about 4% of the population). We believe the true figure for Roman Catholics is much lower than 87%, and the true figure for people with no religion is much higher than 4%.

Atheist Ireland notes: "Careless answers to the question of religion will have an impact on the allocation of State resources, and on the political lobbying power of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. If you want a fair future based on accurate statistics, please answer this question honestly."

Catching Up With The Joneses

A new analysis of the last U.S. census reveals that for the first time, two Hispanic surnames are among the ten most common last names in the country. I can't embed it here, but in the linked story there's a neat scrollable graphic of the 5000 most common last names.

The new top ten:

1. Smith
2. Johnson
3. Williams
4. Brown
5. Jones
6. Miller
7. Davis
8. Garcia
9. Rodriquez
10. Wilson

Also new to the top twenty: Hernandez at #11, Martinez at #15. The Hispanic population of the United States grew by 58% in the '90s and now comprises 13% of the nation. Lee, a surname shared by both whites and Asians (and the most common surname in the world), is #22 in the U.S. My own last name doesn't appear on the list as there are only about 600 of us in the country. I've never met somebody with my last name that I wasn't related to.