WASHINGTON – Hispanics accounted for more than half of the U.S. population increase over the last decade, exceeding estimates in most states as they crossed a new census milestone: 50 million, or 1 in 6 Americans.
Meanwhile, more than 9 million Americans checked two or more race categories on their 2010 census forms, up 32 percent from 2000, a sign of burgeoning multiracial growth in an increasingly minority nation.
The Census Bureau late last week released its first set of national-level findings from the 2010 count on race and migration, detailing a decade in which rapid minority growth, aging Whites and the housing boom and bust were the predominant story lines.
Analysts said the results confirmed a demographic transformation under way that is upending traditional notions of racial minorities, political swing districts, even city and suburb.
