Minorities Become Majority

Nonwhites account for more than half the population in 10% of all US counties and in nearly one-third of the most populous ones, new census results show. Figures through mid-2006 demonstrate the suburban flight of blacks and Hispanics and fallout from Hurricane Katrina, the Times reports. And in three dozen counties with populations over 500,000, whites are a minority.

More Asians make their homes in metropolitan Chicago than in Honolulu, and more Hispanics live in Washington than in El Paso. And as whites migrate to the exurbs, work-seeking minorities follow. “The new melting pots are not large international gateways,” said a demographer. “Rather, many are fast-growing suburbs.” (More immigrant stories.)