|
|
|
| Mon, Nov. 30 - - Mobile - RSS | |
|
|
Hispanic numbers swelling Area population up 119% since 2000
New Census numbers show a rising Hispanic population far outpacing overall growth.
Date published: 8/4/2006
By EDIE GROSS While the Fredericksburg area's population increased steadily between 2000 and 2005, its Hispanic population grew almost six times faster, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released today. The region saw a 21 percent increase in total residents since 2000, but the Hispanic community here swelled by 119 percent over that same five-year period. That was far ahead of the numbers for Virginia as a whole. In 2005, the commonwealth hosted nearly 7.6 million residents, a 7 percent increase over the 2000 count. Hispanics made up a relatively small portion of that amount, at just 6 percent. But their numbers grew statewide by 36 percent, quintuple the growth of the populace as a whole. Kenny Park, pastor of Jerusalem Baptist Church in Warsaw, runs a Hispanic ministry in the Northern Neck. While some of those he has served have returned home to Mexico, daunted by immigration hurdles, many more choose to stay and work in Virginia, he said. "They come because in one week they can make two or three or four times more than what they can in Mexico," he said "There is a living to be made in Mexico, but the hardship is exponentially greater." Of the 10 Virginia counties with the fastest growth rate for Hispanics, five of them are local: Culpeper, Fauquier, Spotsylvania, Caroline and Stafford. The Hispanic community more than doubled in each of those localities. Frederick County led the state in Hispanic growth, nearly tripling its Latino population. In terms of sheer numbers of Latinos, the Northern Virginia counties of Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington and Loudoun still lead the state, though Arlington's Hispanic community declined by nearly 4,000 people, according to the Census. Some of those folks may be moving south to the Fredericksburg region, where the cost of living is slightly lower. Hispanics also flock to this area because they already know people living here, Park said. For instance, he said, half the men of Hueyotlipan in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala who come to the United States to work end up in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and the other half end up in Virginia. "It's a function of networking that happens back in Mexico," he said. "Word gets out, and I guess to a certain degree probably, there's security in knowing you're going to be working with folks from back home." White non-Hispanics still make up the lion's share of the region's residents, accounting for 76 percent of the population--down from 79 percent five years ago. Black non-Hispanics account for close to 16 percent of this area's makeup, a slight increase over the 2000 numbers. Hispanics, who accounted for almost 3 percent of the Fredericksburg region's residents in 2000, now boast a nearly 5 percent share. To reach EDIE GROSS:
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 8/4/2006
|
 |
|||
|
|||
