Diversity booming — Minorities gaining in Utah

For some of Jane Fitts' students at Whittier Elementary School, a fire drill can be a terrifying reminder of air-raid sirens, now half a world away.

"Some of our students come from war-torn countries; it frightens them so much," said Fitts, Whittier's principal. "We have to walk them through it. Some don't understand the bell for recess or lunch."

At Whittier, 22 languages are spoken by immigrant, refugee and second-generation students. It's a microcosm of increasing diversity in the city, county and state, according to a census survey being released today.

"We've got so many different cultures here, it's amazing," Fitts said. "We're trying here to really get our students up to speaking English and teaching them to teach their parents. We're living it every day."

Minorities are estimated to now make up 22 percent of Salt Lake County's population, according to the 2005 American Community Survey. And just under one-in-three residents of Salt Lake City is a minority, according to the survey. West Valley City's minority population is estimated at nearly 38 percent. Weber County's growing minority population is estimated at just under 20 percent, and minorities comprise an estimated 32 percent of Ogden's population.

The Salt Lake City School District is now minority-majority, along with San Juan County in southeast Utah, and the Ogden City district hit the 50-50 mark in the 2005-06 school year.

But it's not just the traditional diversity hot spots that are seeing growth in their minority populations.

In each of the state's 13 cities and counties with populations of 65,000 or more, the estimates suggest growth in the Hispanic population has outpaced the overall growth.

The American Community Survey only includes household populations and doesn't include college dormitories, institutions or other group quarters.

Just as America's growing diversity is reaching every state, diversity, fueled largely by a boom in Hispanic growth, is spreading to Utah and to communities that traditionally haven't seen it, said Pam Perlich, senior research economist at the University of Utah.

In Davis County, the Hispanic household population was up an estimated 56 percent to 17,144. It was up to 36,944 in Utah County, an estimated increase of 58.5 percent.

West Jordan's estimated Hispanic population of 12,867 in 2005 was double the Census count. Sandy grew by less than a percent since the 2000 Census, yet the Hispanic population was up 14 percent, according to the survey.

"In every place we have data for, consistently across the board the Hispanic growth rates are vastly outpacing total growth rates," Perlich said. "Hispanics are moving into areas they hadn't been in before. That's a continuation of what we've seen nationally."