Taylor O'Bier
As White US population ages, nation becoming more racially diverse
New data analysis suggests that after Gen Z, White Americans will not make up the majority of future generations.
LEARN MOREPosted: 2:42 p.m. EST Nov 21, 2023
The U.S. Census Bureau projects over 1 in 4 Americans are likely to be Latino by the year 2060.
Right now, Hispanics make up 1 in 5, or 19.1% of the total population of 335 million in the U.S., but that number is projected to grow to 26.9% by 2060, the Census Bureau said. The non-Hispanic White population will continue to decline from 58.9% to 44.9%.
The Hispanic population is the second-largest racial or ethnic group in the U.S. and will continue to grow with the total population, the agency said.
It is the fastest-growing population in the country as well, rising by 23% from 2010 to 2020 and accounting for nearly half of the overall population growth, according to the Pew Research Center.
Growing Hispanic populations are reshaping the demographics of many states, with Hispanics becoming the largest racial or ethnic group in California for the first time. The fastest growth rate was seen in both North Dakota and South Dakota.
With such rapid population growth comes power. A recent study by the University of Georgia found that between 2010 and 2020, Hispanic buying power jumped 87% to $1.9 trillion.
Hispanic buying power in the country is expected to soar to $2.5 trillion by 2025, growing at double the rate of non-Hispanics, according to the study.
The overall population in the U.S. is projected to reach a high of nearly 370 million in 2080 before edging downward to 366 million in 2100.
These numbers, released by the Census Bureau earlier this month, are calculated from data on births, deaths and international migration in the U.S. The agency creates projections with four different scenarios based on the level of immigration.
In a high-immigration scenario, there may be as many as 435 million people in the U.S.
The last time the Census Bureau released these types of projections was in 2017.
