Whites became minorities across 19 states since the year 2000

theGrio REPORT - While it is true that the demographics of the entire United States are shifting, the change is happening faster in some places than in others.

TheGrio Staff

Apr 14, 2015

While it is true that the demographics of the entire United States are shifting, the change is happening faster in some places than in others.

From 2000 to 2013, 78 counties, across 19 states, have seen their demographics switch from majority-white to having no one ethnic majority.

Although only 266 of 2,440 total counties are minority-white, they tellingly make up around one-third of the total population, as many of the counties are urban with high density populations. In fact, in 19 of the top 25 most populated counties, whites are no longer the majority.

Interestingly, the state of Georgia had the biggest turn, with four out of five of the biggest percentage changes happening in Georgia. There were 14 counties total in which the percentage of whites in 2000 was at least 60% but which now have no ethnic majority.

Furthermore, there were only two counties in the entire country that flipped the opposite direction, going from minority-white to majority-white.

These statistics represent part of a growing trend, with ethnic minorities growing in number against a stagnant white population. This is especially true in the four Georgia counties. In the Atlanta area in particular, white numbers have stagnated against a growing black population and a Hispanic population that, though small, is quickly growing. This may be part of a trend of seeming reverse migration of blacks from North to South.

Although whites still make up 63% of the total population of the U.S., the numbers make one thing clear: the tide is changing.