Attention Southern Californians
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Posted on 01/09/2009 5:05:31 PM PST by real_patriotic_american
Riverside and San Bernardino counties added more Latino residents between 2000 and 2007 than all but three other U.S. counties, a new analysis of U.S. Census data found.
The report, by the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Center, also found that most Latino population growth is now from new births. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was mostly from immigration.
That means no matter what happens to the immigration rate, the Latino population of Riverside and San Bernardino counties will continue to grow steadily, reaching a majority within several years, experts say.
Riverside County's Hispanic population surged 60 percent between 2000 and 2007, and San Bernardino County's rose 40 percent. Los Angeles County had only a 10 percent increase -- although because it has a much larger population, it added more Hispanic residents than any county in the nation.
More than 600,000 Latinos became Riverside and San Bernardino county residents in the first seven years of the decade, pushing the population to more than 1.8 million. The Inland area is now about 45 percent Latino.
The Inland region's non-Hispanic population also rose significantly, but not as quickly as the Latino population. Latinos in the Inland area are, on average, younger than non-Hispanics, and Latina women have a higher fertility rate, especially among immigrants, said Hans Johnson, associate director of the nonpartisan San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California.
That portends a big increase in Hispanic births in the Inland area, said Johnson, co-author of "The Inland Empire in 2015," a demographic study that was released in April. A continued influx of immigrants from Latin America -- and especially of immigrants and U.S.-born Latinos from coastal Southern California counties will also contribute to the surge in the region's Latino population, Johnson predicted.
Latino migration in the Inland area is different from most places. Only about 20 percent of new Hispanic residents arrive directly from Latin America, Johnson said. The rest come from elsewhere in the United States, especially Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, he said.
In most of the country, Latinos move to be near family and jobs. The biggest reason Hispanics -- both immigrants and U.S. residents -- move to the Inland area is lower home prices and rents than in coastal counties, he said. Living here allows many to keep their jobs in coastal counties and still be near family, Johnson said.
The credit crisis is probably slowing the Latino influx. But with housing still cheaper in the Inland area than coastal counties, Latinos will continue to move here, especially when the economy improves, he said.
"This bust we're experiencing right now will return to a boom in the next seven or eight years," Johnson said.
Nationwide, the Latino population grew 29 percent between 2000 and 2007. The non-Hispanic population rose only 4 percent.
Latinos accounted for more than half of the United States' population growth, even though they comprise only 15 percent of the total population.
A previous Pew study found that immigration is slowing. But many of the immigrants already here are having children, as are the U.S.-born descendents of immigrants.
"We're now seeing the secondary impact of international migration from the 1980s and 1990s," said Richard Fry, senior research associate at Pew and author of the new report.
The 1990s saw exponential Hispanic population increases in parts of the South and Midwest that previously had few Latino residents. The South continues to have the biggest share of Latino population growth, but the West's share of growth rose in the 2000s, Fry said.
Latinos moved in huge numbers to small towns in the South and Midwest because of jobs, and with fewer jobs, they are more likely to settle in areas with large, longstanding Hispanic populations, such as Southern California, said Susan Brown, an associate professor of sociology at UC Irvine who studies immigrant-population trends.
The economic slowdown is affecting the entire country but immigrants are more likely to have friends or family in established enclaves in Southern California who can help them find jobs or provide a place to stay while they look for work, said Todd Sorensen, an assistant professor of economics at UC Riverside and an expert on immigration.
That will lead many immigrants who otherwise may have tried their luck in a Southern boomtown to instead settle in places like Southern California, he said.
"People are less likely to take chances in bad times," he said.
Reach David Olson at 951-368-9462 or dolson@PE.com
Bienvenidos a Alta California, Aztlan.
Please ping me with any Southern California related articles. Thank you!
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1/3 of the California population is foreign born. Someone needs to put their foot down.
In the future, note the Activism sidebar is reserved for News/Activism of the FR chapters and not this.
10-4. Sorry!
What a horribly fantastic finding.
What we need: a poster all over Southern California featuring one black guy, one white guy, one hispanic, one Asian all decked out as 1870s cowboys, all holding Ruger Vaqueros (.44s? .45?s) with the caption—”It isn’t about Race. It’s about being American. The New Sons of Liberty.”
The New Sons of Liberty? Remember that there are millions of illegal immigrants in California.
Yeah, I know. The field is ripe. We have to convert them, or go to war with them. A few facts about the newcomers: they don’t like taxes; they are sick of corruption (that’s what they grew up on); and they can’t stand cross-dressers. They are OUR people, no matter what the libtards say.
Good points.
Anchor Baby Central. The “natural born” citizenship ratio is being upped by the day.
Good point! California does oppose cross dressers as they voted “Yes” on Proposition 8 to outlaw gay marriage. Hollywood is fuming.
I assume that you are intending to sell the positive aspects of Conservatism? Conservatism can win in California if the GOP stands by their beliefs. Opposition to gay marriage is Conservatism and it won in California.
California is not gone if the authorities and politicians enforce illegal immigration laws.
It seems to me that conservatives who aren’t having babies, need to either 1) have babies or 2) convert the people who are having babies.
Well, I like the sound of #1. And, yes, #2 is a good plan as well.
And what are the odds of that? Zero zip nada.
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