Population Count, 9-County DVRPC Region
November 2001
|
||
|
Twenty Years of Diversification: Minority Population Count, 9-County DVRPC Region |
No. 7 November 2001 |
|
|
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is an interstate, intercounty and intercity agency serving the Philadelphia-Camden-Trenton metropolitan area. As the region's metropolitan planning organization (MPO), the commission provides technical assistance and services to its member state and local governments. Delaware Valley Data is our periodic series of free data bulletins and analytical data reports. In May 2001, the U.S. Census Bureau released the Profiles of General Demographic Characteristics 2000 which contains selected population and housing data, including data on race. Based on this 2000 Census release and data from the 1980 and 1990 Decennial Census, the following analytical report looks at non-white minority diversification in the DVRPC 9-county region, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Mercer counties in New Jersey. Regional Highlights The Delaware Valley continues to diversify, but the issue is not just black and white.
The non-white minority population of the nine-county DVRPC region (at 1,519,246)comprised 28% of the region's total population in 2000, compared to only 21% in 1980. As illustrated in Figure 1, the rate of growth in the region's non-white minority population exceeded that of the region's white population between 1980 and 1990 and again between 1990 and 2000. Non-white minority growth accelerated from 13% between 1980 and 1990 to 24% between 1990 and 2000. Overall, the region's non-white population grew by 41% between 1980 and 2000 while the region's white population declined by 2% over the same time period (see Figure 2). Total population growth over these two decades was 7%. Population diversity also became more complex than the simple distinction between whites and blacks. From 1980 to 2000, non-black minorities increased by 210%, faster than whites, blacks or the overall population. Labeled as "others", this group includes Asians, American Indians, multi-racial people and a myriad of other combinations. An increase of 129% between 1980 and 2000 in the Hispanic population, an ethnic category comprised of all races, is further blurring the lines of racial identification. This rate of change is second only to that of "others". Since the census includes two separate questions regarding race and Hispanic-origin, it is possible that some Hispanics may have chosen "other" as their racial identification. Due to its multi-racial makeup, an analysis of Hispanic trends is better suited to a non-racial context.
Despite growing at a slower rate than non-black minorities, African-Americans continue to be the region's major minority group. In 1980 there were 939,950 African-Americans in the region, comprising over 87% of the non-white minority total. By 2000, however, there were 1,087,025 African-Americans in the nine-county Delaware Valley region, comprising 72% of the non-white population. While some of this difference from 1980 to 2000 may be explained by more specific racial questions in the 2000 Census, it also indicates that groups such as Asians and Hispanics are of increasing importance to the region's racial mix. Unfortunately, while racial identity is now a more complex issue, racial categories between the 1980 and 2000 Census are not similar, making specific time series data on these smaller groups unobtainable. Overall, the State of New Jersey continues to be more diverse than the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Roughly one in three New Jersey residents are non-white, and New Jersey more than doubled its non-white minority population from 1980 to 2000 (with an increase of 109%). In Pennsylvania, only 15% of the population identifies itself as non-white, although all of its net population growth between 1980 and 2000 was non-white. The racial make-up of the Delaware Valley, however, does not reflect this difference between the two states. In absolute terms, DVRPC's five Southeastern Pennsylvanian counties are 30%non-white, while the region's four New Jersey Counties are 25% non-white.
The non-white population in the region's four New Jersey counties increased by 67% between 1980 and 2000, compared to a state-wide increase of 109%. The region's five Pennsylvania counties realized only a 34% increase in their non-white minority population over the past two decades (compared to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's 48% increase), largely due to a relatively low percentage increase (18%) in the non-white population of Philadelphia. County Highlights Suburban counties are diversifying faster than the urban core. Figure 3 illustrates the percentage of the Delaware Valley's non-white population that lived in each of the region's nine counties in 1980 and 2000. While the majority of the region's minority population still lives in Philadelphia, the City's share of the region's minority population dropped from 65% in 1980 to 55% in 2000. In six of the region's nine counties, non-white population growth exceeded the white population growth between 1980 and 2000. Although racial change in Pennsylvania statewide is occurring more slowly than in New Jersey, non-white residents in the Pennsylvania counties of Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware are increasing at rates several times faster than Philadelphia and almost twice as fast as the four New Jersey counties to the east (see Figure 4). Of the region's eight suburban counties, Montgomery County is experiencing the most rapid diversification. With an increase of 60,509 non-whites, Montgomery's absolute change surpassed more urban Camden County's increase of 59,771 non-white individuals. Moreover, in addition to its diversification in absolute terms, Montgomery County had the highest percentage increase in non-white residents in the region (147%). The pace of diversification in Bucks County is also accelerating. In 1980, there were only 18,718 nonwhites in Bucks County, making it the least diverse county in the region. By 2000, however, the County's non-white population had increased by 141%, second in percentage only to Montgomery County. In absolute terms, Bucks County's non-white population leapfrogged past Gloucester County's by the year 2000, and the absolute increase in Bucks' non-white population exceeded that in both Gloucester and Chester counties. While Chester, Burlington, Camden, Mercer and Gloucester counties all continued to diversify, their rates of increase in minority residents were more moderate, ranging between 65% and 68%. In all nine counties, the percentage increase in non-white population exceeded the growth rates for white population between 1980 and 2000.
Population trends in Delaware County illustrate another important shift in the region. As was evident in the three other counties with older core cities (Camden, Mercer, and Philadelphia County), Delaware County had negative growth in its white population while experiencing a significant percentage increase in its non-white population. Delaware County experienced the third highest percentage change in non-white residents, nearly doubling its non- white minority population from 1980 to 2000. The County gained approximately one non-white individual for each white person that it lost, losing approximately 56,000 white individuals while at the same time gaining 52,000 non- white individuals for a net loss of 4,000 people (just under 1% of its total population). Philadelphia was the only county in the region besides Delaware County to lose residents, due to its 30% decline in white population coupled with its relatively low percentage increase in non-whites. Municipal Highlights The majority of the region's non-whites are still concentrated in a handful of municipalities. Although the nine-county region as a whole is becoming more diverse, it remains to be seen whether white/non- white segregation is significantly on the decline. In 2000, there were 15 communities with non-white majorities, as illustrated in Figure 5. This includes the City of Philadelphia, where the non-white population increased from 46% of the City's total to 55% in the last decade. Other cities in the region with non-white population majorities include Trenton (with 67%), Chester City (81%) and Camden City (83%). Map 1 illustrates the percentage of non-white residents living in each of the region's municipalities in 2000. Overall, 65% of the region's non-white minorities reside in the region's four core cities of Philadelphia, Camden, Trenton and Chester, with 84% of this urban non-white population living in the City of Philadelphia. This percentage has decreased from 78% of the region's non-white minorities living in these four cities in 1980, reflecting the diversification of the region's suburbs.
Map 2 illustrates the percent change in the non-white population between 1980 and 2000, while Map 3 illustrates the percent change in the white population during the same time period. Significant increases in the non-white minority population were realized in many of the region's suburban municipalities, particularly in Bucks and Montgomery counties. Many of these same communities also saw significant gains in their white populations. The move of non-white minorities into more suburban locations may or may not, however, indicate that the region's suburbs are significantly more integrated. Table 2 lists the region's 16 municipalities with the largest absolute number of non-white minority residents. In 2000, 75% of the region's non-white minorities resided in these 16 municipalities. Excluding Philadelphia, almost one-half of the non-white population of the region's eight suburban counties resided within only 15 of 352 total municipalities.
Many of the region's first generation communities surrounding Philadelphia and other core cities realized losses in their white population but experienced moderate gains in their non-white population. Sixteen of the region's municipalities lost at least D of their white populations between 1980 and 2000 (see Figure 6), and several communities (primarily older first generation suburbs) realized significant increases in the percent of their population that is non-white (see Table 3). Three of the region's communities with the highest percentage gains in their minority population, Millbourne and Colwyn in Delaware County and Woodlynne in Camden County, were communities with 7%, l% and 3% non-white minority populations, respectively, in 1980, but transitioned into communities with non-white majorities in only 20 years. The increase in non-white minorities in Woodlynne was coupled with a 46% loss in the white population, while in Colwyn the increase in non-white minorities was combined with a 63% loss in the white population. In addition to Colwyn and Woodlynne, seven other communities appear both on the list of communities with the greatest percentage decline in their white population and the list of communities with non-white majorities in 2000. Philadelphia, which has by far the largest non-white minority population in the region, experienced a 30% decline in its white population between 1990 and 2000. While not within the top 10 declining municipalities on a percentage basis, the magnitude of this decrease in absolute numbers is nevertheless significant.
Nine communities (Colwyn, Woodlynne, East Lansdowne, Millbourne, Chester City, Sharon Hill, Chester Township, Darby Borough and Willingboro) are among those with the greatest increase in the percent of their total population that is non-white and the greatest percentage decline in the white population. Four communities (Camden, Trenton, Chester, and Willingboro) rank among the top municipalities in absolute minority population and also are among the communities with the greatest percentage decline in their white populations. The move of minorities into inner-ring, first generation suburbs such as these coupled with the significant loss of the white population in many of these same communities may indicate the expansion of the urban/suburban racial divide across outdated urban boundaries, rather than a meaningful diversification of the region's suburbs.
Note: Does not include the City of Philadelphia, which was home to 834,283 non-white residents in 2000.
Analytical data report #7 is the seventh in a series of bulletins designed to complement our traditional data releases. For more information on Analytical Data Reports, please visit the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission's website (www.dvrpc.org) or contact DVRPC at the telephone number below. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission was established in 1965 by interstate compact between Pennsylvania and New Jersey to plan for the orderly growth and development of the region, and to provide a variety of planning and technical assistance services responding to regional issues. DVRPC maintains a significant database for twenty-eight counties encompassing New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Included in the database are data profiles at the regional, county and municipal level and for other census geography as requested. DVRPC produces a diverse range of services, including demographic and economic data and projections; mapping and aerial photography; computer assisted mapping; geographic information systems; impact studies; and policy and program development. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
