September 18, 2003
(Atlanta-AP) -- New Census figures show that Hispanic immigrants have flooded to the South since 2000 -- with Georgia leading the way.
Hispanic populations have grown around the country, but of the ten states with the highest influx of Hispanics, six were in the South: Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia and Alabama.
Georgia led the nation with a 16.8% growth from 2000 to 2002, according to Census Bureau estimates released today. The 2000 Census found a Hispanic population of about 450,000 in Georgia -- a ten-year increase of 300 percent. The growth over the next two years would put the 2002 population at more than 525,000.
Charles Gallagher -- a sociology professor at Georgia State University -- says Hispanics were drawn to the South seeking manual labor in agriculture, construction, textiles and janitorial work.
Following Georgia, the District of Columbia had the second-highest Hispanic growth, at 16 percent.
- The Hispanic population in each state in July 2002, July 2000 and the percent change between the two years:
State 2002 2000 %Change
Ala. 86,322 76,596 12.7
Alaska 28,237 25,904 9.0
Ariz. 1,476,738 1,317,167 12.1
Ark. 97,073 87,814 10.5
Calif. 11,936,707 11,066,639 7.9
Colo. 818,274 746,721 9.6
Conn. 345,424 324,219 6.5
D.C. 52,456 45,219 16.0
Del. 41,263 37,618 9.7
Fla. 3,019,305 2,720,900 11.0
Ga. 516,530 442,135 16.8
Hawaii 91,092 85,771 6.2
Idaho 113,935 102,993 10.6
Ill. 1,681,402 1,545,345 8.8
Ind. 236,367 217,090 8.9
Iowa 89,627 82,964 8.0
Kan. 206,715 189,682 9.0
Ky. 68,838 60,432 13.9
La. 114,584 108,769 5.3
Maine 10,298 9,409 9.4
Md. 256,510 230,679 11.2
Mass. 467,276 431,284 8.2
Mich. 349,166 326,846 6.8
Minn. 158,752 144,702 9.7
Miss. 42,904 39,959 7.4
Mo. 127,322 119,721 6.3
Mont. 19,092 18,123 5.3
Neb. 103,580 95,161 8.8
Nev. 462,690 402,488 15.0
N.H. 22,479 20,732 8.4
N.J. 1,220,733 1,129,504 8.1
N.M. 796,171 769,783 3.4
N.Y. 3,073,430 2,892,175 6.3
N.C. 444,463 384,308 15.7
N.D. 8,198 7,744 5.9
Ohio 228,959 219,208 4.4
Okla. 192,769 180,312 6.9
Ore. 312,442 278,024 12.4
Penn. 415,700 397,324 4.6
R.I. 98,947 91,428 8.2
S.C. 109,285 96,178 13.6
S.D. 11,486 10,929 5.1
Tenn. 139,861 125,330 11.6
Texas 7,314,341 6,753,718 8.3
Utah 224,304 203,895 10.0
Vt. 5,813 5,538 5.0
Va. 378,060 333,892 13.2
Wash. 490,448 444,560 10.3
W.Va. 12,507 12,382 1.0
Wis. 209,074 194,862 7.3
Wyo. 33,352 31,878 4.6
U.S. 38,761,301 35,686,594 8.6
___
Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
posted at 10:10AM by dave.miller@walb.com
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 Worldnow and WALB, a Raycom Media Station. 
