Asians beat Hispanics and 5 other 2010 Census surprises (plus a fun map!)

So, most of us in Multicultural Marketing have been anxiously awaiting the results of the 2010 census. It's usually a massive boon to our industry as the average brand manager says "OMG! Where did all these Latinos come from!" (no, seriously, they do...the average brand manager is now young enough to be a millennial raised on Snookie-God help us all). 

Anyway, as we've had some serious chunks of data come in already, I thought I'd highlight a few less than obvious conclusions you may have missed. I've also also summarized the basics at the end of the article. Those are still pretty amazing, so don't skip them!

Six less than obvious conclusions:

1- Asians--not Hispanics--are the biggest % gainers: they grew 43.3% over the last 10 years (vs Hispanic 43%), and now number 14.7M, or 4.8% of the population. Black bumped up from 12.3% to 12.6% of total pop, and now total 39M. Hispanics now total 50M

2- Despite the buzz and hype, Multicultural or Bicultural Americans (those that indicated more than one race), only account for 3% of the population. The census form DOES spell out that you can select more than one race (see right). But despite that, a full 97% of respondents chose to select only one. Obama famously ticked off only "black"--even though he's both black and white--so this 3% is probably more indicative of how we identify ourselves vs actual pop facts.

3- Asians and Whites mix MUCH better than Whites and Blacks: 1.6M people say they are a mix of White and Asian. 1.8M say they are mixed Black and White. Although numerically higher, remember that there are 39M Blacks and only 14.7M Asians. That means Asians and Whites are blending twice as well as Blacks and Whites (mixing rates: 11% vs 5%).

4- The south--of all places--is mixing it up! Blacks are heading to the suburbs in droves: 58% currently live in suburbs, vs 41% of Blacks nationally. Also, Hispanic growth in the south outpaced that of Blacks for the first time ever. The south! Who woulda thunk?

5- While minorities are still a minority (36% of totoal pop), this does not hold true at the State level. The most multicultural states are: Hawaii at 77% multicultural, D.C. at 65.2%, California at 59.9%, New Mexico 59.5%, Texas at 54.7%, Nevada at 45.9%, Maryland at 45.3% and Georgia at 44.1% (Texas is a new member of the Minority/Majority club in 2010!--In 2000% they were at 47.6% minority. Nevada is the fastest grower at 78% multicultural growth). And in smaller geographies, the story is even more surprising. In NY Metro area, for instance, Whites are a minority for the first time in history (49.6% white in all 23 counties)

6- Hispanic growth is of the US-born variety. Although 2010 Census data isn't out yet, the ACS from 2006 shows that 61% of Hispanics were born in the US, and immigration has slowed significantly since the recession hit. I'm guessing the 2010 will show something like 67% of the Hispanic Population is US Born.  And if you're wondering how this affect marketing, I put up some thought starters here.

And for reference, here are the (still surprising) basics we all should probably know:

B1- There's a ton of Latinos: There were 50.5 Million Hispanics in the US in 2010, which is 16.3% of the population. In 2000, it was "only" 35.3M...so in a mere 10 years, the Hispanic population soared 43%. (By comparison, the non-Hispanic white pop "grew" an anemic 1%: from 164.6M to 169.8M)

B2- The country's growth is hugely non-white: a full 90%(!) of the growth in population over the last 10 years is Black, Hispanic and Asian. The largest chunk is, of course, Hispanics, who account for an incredible 56% of the total population growth of the country (Hispanics grew by 15.2M. The total US grew by 27.3M)

B3- Los niños! Ethnicity varies radically when looked at by age. Although Hispanics "only" represent 16.3% of the US, when you look at kids, the picture changes dramatically: for those under 18, nearly 1 in 4 is Hispanic (23%). The younger you look, the more Hispanic it gets. Stay tuned for more data releases from the Census.

And finally, a fun map to fool around with!