The swelling tide of diversity has continued to surge through the nation this decade. Although the growth in minority populations has been greater in some places than in others, nearly every congressional district grew less white in the ’00s, and 217 districts are now at least 30 percent nonwhite. In 1990, only 109 districts were 30 percent minority; even in 2008, only 205 districts made that cut.
Comparing population numbers from the 2000 census with estimates from the 2009 American Community Survey, Hispanics have been the clear driver of minority population growth in the past decade. The intensity of that growth is underscored by the concentration of young people in more-diverse areas and the elderly in whiter areas. On average, minority-heavy areas have higher numbers of residents younger than 18 and lower numbers of residents older than 65. The opposite is true of America’s least diverse congressional districts.
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