Thursday, August 11, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Growing minorities on way to majority

Migration making Nevada more diverse

Kehu Ferreira holds 4-month-old Cheri Kealohilani Chan at the store Hawaii's in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Ferreira is from the island of Oahu but has lived in Las Vegas for eight years. Photo by John Locher.

Driven by booming Clark County, Nevada is fast becoming a state where minorities will likely outnumber whites one day, according to new Census Bureau data.

Though no one is projecting exactly when it will happen, the trend shows that Nevada may one day join Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Texas as "majority-minority" states, or those where more than 50 percent of the population is made up of non-whites and Hispanics.

"If the migration patterns of the last decade continue, I would expect that to be the case," said Jeff Hardcastle, Nevada state demographer.

The bureau's annual population estimates, scheduled for release today, show Nevada's population topped 2.3 million as of July 1, 2004. Clark County, with more than 1.6 million people, has about 71 percent of the state's total population.

Overall, minorities make up 39 percent of the state's population. About 23 percent of the state's population is Hispanic.

The bureau defines minorities as all people except non-Hispanic, single-race whites.

In Clark County, minorities make up about 44 percent of the population, with Hispanics for the first time topping 25 percent, according to the data. Blacks account for about 10 percent of the county's population and Asians 6 percent.

"Both metropolitan counties have been becoming more diverse," said Hardcastle, noting that Washoe County, where Reno is located, is about 20 percent Hispanic.

Since Census 2000, the state's Hispanic population has boomed, from less than 400,000, or about 20 percent, to more than 530,000. There are about 416,000 Hispanics in Clark County.

Every minority group tracked by the bureau has garnered a larger portion of the state's, and Clark County's, population since 2000, according to the data.

The portion of the population that is white, however, is shrinking.

In 2000, non-Hispanic whites made up 66 percent of Nevada's population. By 2004, that number had shrunk to 61 percent. The numbers in Clark County were similar, dropping from 61 percent in 2000 to 56 percent in 2004.

Cherie Garrity, a demographer with Clark County's comprehensive planning department, said the prevalence of service industry jobs here has likely drawn the diverse population.

"They can make a good living in Las Vegas," she said, though she cautioned that the trend could slow down because of rising housing prices here.

"Obviously, it's not slowing the growth of minority groups, but at some point that may become a factor," she said.

One group, native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders, moved here in higher numbers between 2003 and 2004 than they did to any other county in the nation, the data show. Clark County gained 1,098 in that group, bringing the total population to more than 17,000 people who identified themselves as being full or partly of that race, according to the data.

Mel Ozeki thinks he knows why.

"The driving force is the lesser cost of housing here versus Hawaii," said Ozeki, a lifelong Hawaiian who moved to Las Vegas in 1996 after retiring from the military.

Ozeki, who is planning a trip to Hawaii today, said he came here because he'd heard about a sizeable population of native Hawaiians.

He started Ohana Magazine, and successfully ran it for nine years until his retirement just recently, he said. He said the circulation of the bi-monthly magazine, which focused on Hawaiian culture in Las Vegas and elsewhere, was about 10,000.