Minority population is booming nationally and in Utah

The largest minority group in the state, and in Salt Lake County, is Hispanics. The more than 149,000 Hispanics in Salt Lake County comprise about two-thirds of the county's 223,157 minorities.

Other counties with large minority populations were Utah County, with 60,226 minorities, Weber County, with 42,252, and Davis County with 32,083.

Some smaller counties are also seeing strong growth in the minority communities. Wasatch County's minority population nearly doubled since 2000, with growth fueled largely by Hispanics bringing the minority population to 1,991, or about 10 percent of the population, on July 1, 2006.

Other points in the census estimates include:

• While seven of the 10 counties with the highest proportion of their population under 5 years old were in Texas, South Dakota or Utah, it is not a Utah county, but Webb County, Texas, which topped the list at 13.1 percent.

• When it comes to white majorities, Magoffin County, Ky., and Mitchell County, Iowa, led the nation with 98.9 percent of their populations being non-Hispanic whites.

• Maricopa County, Ariz., gained 71,000 Hispanic residents from July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2006 — the biggest one-year increase in the nation.

• At 97 percent Hispanic, Starr County, Texas, has the highest proportion of Hispanic residents in the nation.

• Cook County, Ill., where Chicago is located, had 1.4 million black residents, the nation's largest black population.

For the full release, visit www.census.gov.

---

E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com