State's Hispanic population growing
Crawford, Sioux counties see significant increases
By Ed Tibbetts, Lee Enterprises | Posted: Thursday, August 07, 2008
The growth in the number of Hispanics living in Iowa has been evident for years, but new government estimates say that since 2000 there's also been sharp growth in the number of areas where Hispanics have expanded their footprint.
In 15 counties last year, Hispanics made up more than 5 percent of the population, nearly double what it was in 2000. In seven counties, more than one in 10 people claimed Hispanic ethnicity. In only three counties was that the case eight years ago.
The change, demographers and advocates say, is because of the relative youth of Hispanics in the state, the exodus of child-bearing white Iowans and a next generation of Hispanics who stay in the state but not always in the same communities as their parents who moved to Iowa to work in meat-packing plants.
In Sioux City, 5.2 percent of the population is Hispanic.
Christy Nicolaisen, outgoing program manager of LaCasa Latina, a local advocacy and social service agency, said many of the Sioux City area's Hispanic residents have relocated from other parts of the country. Sioux City offered work, especially in construction and the meat-packing industry, and a better place to raise their families.
Many have come from California, Texas and Chicago, she said.
"There's more work here than there is in Texas or California," Nicolaisen said. "A lot of them, they just think it's peaceful here. They think it's calmer than, say, Texas or California, and they like raising their families here."
The state's Hispanic population grew to 119,734 last year, up from 82,473 in 2000. That's about 4 percent of Iowa's population, just a bit higher than the 2.8 percent that it was eight years ago.
But where the influence of Hispanics is most evident is in the pockets of Iowa where their share of the overall population is noticeable and growing. The new data show that the number of those pockets, which include the Sioux City area, is growing.
* In Wapello County in southern Iowa, 6.8 percent of the population is Hispanic.
* In Crawford County, in western Iowa, Hispanics make up 18.8 percent of the population, according to the new estimates.
* In each of those cases, the Hispanic share of the population has doubled since 2000.
"We're finally starting to see some substantial numbers ... in terms of overall diversity of the state,” said Liesl Eathington, an assistant scientist at Iowa State University who tracks demographic trends.
The new figures are being released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and estimate the racial and ethnic composition of the country's 3,000-plus counties.
Mark Grey, program director at the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration at the University of Northern Iowa, said the change is being driven by a few things. The fertility rate among Hispanic women is higher, and young white Iowans are moving out of the state right when they're about ready to start families.
And Grey said the median age of a Hispanic Iowan is 14 years less than a white Iowan. "That's significant,” he said.
Armando Villareal, administrator of the state's Division of Latino Affairs, said the widening number of counties with significant Hispanic populations also is a result of the children of first-generation families moving away from home.
"They move out but still stay close to where family ties are,” he said.
In some parts of Iowa, where the white population is shrinking, Hispanics are supplying all the growth.
"In a lot of areas of the state, this is really it in terms of population growth,” Eathington said.
Hispanics, while already outnumbering the state's black population, also are expanding their share of the population in metro areas where blacks have been the dominant minority group for years.
-- Journal staff writer Molly Montag contributed to this article.
In 15 counties last year, Hispanics made up more than 5 percent of the population, nearly double what it was in 2000. In seven counties, more than one in 10 people claimed Hispanic ethnicity. In only three counties was that the case eight years ago.
The change, demographers and advocates say, is because of the relative youth of Hispanics in the state, the exodus of child-bearing white Iowans and a next generation of Hispanics who stay in the state but not always in the same communities as their parents who moved to Iowa to work in meat-packing plants.
In Sioux City, 5.2 percent of the population is Hispanic.
Christy Nicolaisen, outgoing program manager of LaCasa Latina, a local advocacy and social service agency, said many of the Sioux City area's Hispanic residents have relocated from other parts of the country. Sioux City offered work, especially in construction and the meat-packing industry, and a better place to raise their families.
Many have come from California, Texas and Chicago, she said.
"There's more work here than there is in Texas or California," Nicolaisen said. "A lot of them, they just think it's peaceful here. They think it's calmer than, say, Texas or California, and they like raising their families here."
The state's Hispanic population grew to 119,734 last year, up from 82,473 in 2000. That's about 4 percent of Iowa's population, just a bit higher than the 2.8 percent that it was eight years ago.
But where the influence of Hispanics is most evident is in the pockets of Iowa where their share of the overall population is noticeable and growing. The new data show that the number of those pockets, which include the Sioux City area, is growing.
* In Wapello County in southern Iowa, 6.8 percent of the population is Hispanic.
* In Crawford County, in western Iowa, Hispanics make up 18.8 percent of the population, according to the new estimates.
* In each of those cases, the Hispanic share of the population has doubled since 2000.
"We're finally starting to see some substantial numbers ... in terms of overall diversity of the state,” said Liesl Eathington, an assistant scientist at Iowa State University who tracks demographic trends.
The new figures are being released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and estimate the racial and ethnic composition of the country's 3,000-plus counties.
Mark Grey, program director at the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration at the University of Northern Iowa, said the change is being driven by a few things. The fertility rate among Hispanic women is higher, and young white Iowans are moving out of the state right when they're about ready to start families.
And Grey said the median age of a Hispanic Iowan is 14 years less than a white Iowan. "That's significant,” he said.
Armando Villareal, administrator of the state's Division of Latino Affairs, said the widening number of counties with significant Hispanic populations also is a result of the children of first-generation families moving away from home.
"They move out but still stay close to where family ties are,” he said.
In some parts of Iowa, where the white population is shrinking, Hispanics are supplying all the growth.
"In a lot of areas of the state, this is really it in terms of population growth,” Eathington said.
Hispanics, while already outnumbering the state's black population, also are expanding their share of the population in metro areas where blacks have been the dominant minority group for years.
-- Journal staff writer Molly Montag contributed to this article.
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BethanyhometownDenison wrote on Aug 9, 2008 11:00 AM:
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Get Off The Pity Train wrote on Aug 7, 2008 10:02 AM: