Paul Sancya / AP
This April 5, 2020, photo shows an envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a U.S. resident in Detroit.
Published Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021 | 1:47 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021 | 5:43 p.m.
Nevada’s population grew by more than 400,000 residents over the last 10 years and the state continued to become a more racially and ethnically diverse place to call home, according to newly released 2020 census data.
The U.S. Census Bureau said Nevada’s diversity index was 68.8% — the third highest in the country after Hawaii and California. The diversity index measures the probability that two people in a state chosen at random will be from different racial and ethnic groups.
The Census Bureau put Nevada’s population at 3,104,614 — up 15% from 10 years ago — with whites accounting for 48.2% of residents, a decrease from 51.2% in 2010. Hispanics or Latinos made up the next largest ethnic group, with 29.2%. Blacks made up 10.3% of the state’s population, just ahead of the 9.5% Asian or Pacific Islanders in Nevada.
The Census Bureau released detailed redistricting data Thursday to assist states in determining how they will redraw congressional and legislative districts. While Nevada’s growth did not warrant a new seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, the data will shape how $1.5 trillion in annual federal spending is distributed among the 50 states.
Of the 435 House seats, each state gets one automatically, with the remaining 385 seats allocated based on population. Nevada has four House representatives, with the last seat added after the 2010 census.
Emily Persaud-Zamora, executive director of Silver State Voices and head of the Nevadans Count Coalition, called on Nevada legislators to ensure communities of color and other communities of shared interest are considered in the redistricting process.
“How districts are drawn influences who runs for public office and who is elected; and who lives in a district can influence how quickly, and how effectively elected officials respond to a community’s needs,” Persaud-Zamora said in a statement.
The census asked two separate questions on Hispanic origin and race to determine if the person is of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin and what the person’s exact race is.
In Clark County, where the population rose 16.1% to more than 2.2 million, the racial breakdown was 41.7% white, 31.6% Hispanic or Latino, 13.1% Black and 11.3% Asian or Pacific Islander. The predominant racial group was white in Henderson at 64.6%; Hispanic or Latino in North Las Vegas, 41.2%; and white in Las Vegas, 43.5%.
Census figures show continued migration to the South and West at the expense of the Midwest and Northeast. The share of the white population fell from 63.7% in 2010 to 57.8% in 2020, the lowest on record.
However, the white population remains the largest race or ethnicity group in the U.S., with 235.4 million alone or in combination. The Hispanic or Latino population comprised 62.1 million people, with 269.4 million people not Hispanic or Latino. People of two or more races accounted for 33.8 million alone.
The 2020 census put the nation’s population at 331,449,281. In the decade since the last national census, the population grew 7.4%, lower than the 2000-2010 census growth rate of 9.7%.
“The U.S. population is much more multiracial and much more racially and ethnically diverse than what we have measured in the past,” said Nicholas Jones, a Census Bureau official.
Utah was the fastest-growing state over the past 10 years, with a population increase of 18.4%. Nevada came in at No. 5 in highest percentage increase.
Despite its high percentage growth, Utah did not pick up an additional congressional seat. Texas will gain two new seats in Congress while Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon each got one. California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio each will lose a seat.
Among Nevada’s major cities, Henderson grew the fastest, up 23.2% to a population of 317,610. It was followed by North Las Vegas, 21% to 262,527; Reno, 17.3% to 264,165; and Las Vegas, 9.9% to 641,903. Clark County grew 16.1% with a population of 2,265,461.
The data comes from compiling forms filled out last year by tens of millions of Americans, with the help of census takers and government statisticians to fill in the blanks when forms were not turned in or questions were left unanswered. The numbers reflect countless decisions by individuals to have children, move to another part of the country or to come to the U.S. from elsewhere.
Even before it began, the headcount was challenged by attempted political interference from the Trump administration’s failed efforts to add a citizenship question to the census form, a move that critics feared would have a chilling effect on immigrant or Hispanic participation. The effort was stopped by the Supreme Court.
Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said that as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus 2020 Census Task Force, he fought against what he viewed as President Donald Trump’s discouragement of census participation.
“While I remain concerned about undercounting in historically underserved neighborhoods, I’m excited to see that Nevada’s 2020 census results show our state as the third most ethnically diverse in the nation, reflecting the rich and varied cultures that make the Silver State strong,” Horsford said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
