Census 2000 reveals a portrait of a growing and diversifying state and nation.

© Dr. Terry J. van der Werff, CMC

While the Census Bureau has released only a portion of the population data collected last year, a somewhat surprising portrait is emerging of the United States as a whole and Washington State in particular.

United States

The nation’s population as of April 1, 2000, stood officially at 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% from a decade earlier.  The first surprise is this is fully six million more than the Census Bureau expected.

California is the most populous state; Wyoming the least.  Nevada grew by 66% and Arizona by 40%, followed by Colorado, Utah, and Idaho clustered around 30%.  Eight states grew by more than 1,000,000 residents: California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Washington, and Colorado.  Together, these eight accounted for 54% of the nation’s total population change of 32,712,033.

The population center continues to move inexorably away from the Eastern seaboard.  The West grew by 19.7% and the South by 17.3%, whereas the Northeast grew only 5.5% and the Midwest only 7.9%.

The nation continues to grow in its diversity.  This has become especially evident since residents were permitted for the first time in a census to identify with more than one race.  Almost 7 million did, making direct comparisons with the 1990 census a bit difficult.  Nevertheless, Hispanics, who may be of any race, apparently have slightly surpassed Blacks as the largest racial or ethnic minority group.  This is the second surprise, since population aficionados thought this would occur later.  Indeed, in a column here five years ago, I projected this would occur around 2015.  Taking into account that most Hispanics are considered racially White, it is estimated that 69% of the nation’s population is non-Hispanic White, the lowest percentage in any census.  One can confidently project the United States will be a “majority minority” country before mid-century, as California, Hawaii, and several other states already are.

Washington State

The State of Washington’s population in Census 2000 stood at 5,894,124, making it the 15th largest state in the Union, just behind Indiana and just ahead of Tennessee, a move up from the 17th slot in the 1990 census..  This represents a population change of 1,027,429 (7th highest) and a growth rate of 21.1% (10th highest), fully one-half again as much as the growth rate of the country as a whole.

Washington, too, diversified its population substantially in the past decade.  For example, the majority of Pasco residents is now Hispanic, and one in six Bellevue residents is Asian.  Statewide, the Hispanic population more than doubled, growing 106% to surpass Asians as the largest minority.

Hispanics now represent 7.5% of the population, followed by Asians with 6.6%, Blacks with 4.0%, American Indians and Native Alaskans with 2.7%, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders with 0.7%.  (These percentages for the races include those who designated more than one race, which introduces a small amount of double counting.  For example, a person choosing both Asian and Black on the census form would be counted as part of both the 6.6% and the 4.0% above.)

Far and away the fastest growing cities were Vancouver, which more than tripled its population to 143,560, and Kent, which more than doubled its population to 79,524.  Seattle remains the largest city (563,374), followed by Spokane (195,629), Tacoma (193,556), Vancouver, and Bellevue (109,569).  King, Pierce, and Snohomish remain the three most populous counties, while Clark, San Juan, and Grant were the three fastest growing.

Why does this matter?

The U.S. Constitution mandated the census for the purpose of apportioning the Representatives to Congress, so it matters in our public life.  Census 2000 moves the locus of national political power westward yet again.

From a business standpoint, Census 2000 matters too, because it enumerates your customers, your employees, and your neighbors.

Consider setting up a small team to review these population shifts and to project their impact of on your company.  The team should ask:  Are operations located most effectively to serve customers?  Does the corporate culture reflect cultural diversity?  Where will your new workers come from?  Are training, development, and mentoring programs up to snuff?  Are marketing messages tailored appropriately to the growing minority communities?

These questions do not have easy answers, but they do affect your future success.  Consider them carefully, and plan accordingly.