White Babies In Minority, Latinos Growing On Both Coasts

The big news this morning is that white babies are now in the minority, while non-white babies make up the majority currently being born in the United States. We’ve written about this before — whites are less than half of babies under the age of 3 — but new data further highlights this fact.

Now, minorities also outnumber white babies under the age of 2. And, as we wrote before, the Latino population that is historically concentrated in the Southwest is growing, but so is a newer population on the East Coast. The Associated Press reported:

The preliminary figures are based on an analysis of the Current Population Survey as well as the 2009 American Community Survey, which sampled 3 million U.S. households to determine that whites made up 51 percent of babies younger than 2. After taking into account a larger-than-expected jump in the minority child population in the 2010 census, the share of white babies falls below 50 percent.

Twelve states and the District of Columbia now have white populations below 50 percent among children under age 5 — Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Maryland, Georgia, New Jersey, New York and Mississippi. That’s up from six states and the District of Columbia in 2000.

At current growth rates, seven more states could flip to “minority-majority” status among small children in the next decade: Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, South Carolina and Delaware.

Also interesting to note here is what the country will “look” like when these numbers of babies become numbers of school children, then voters, then workers, etc. Of these 12 states with white populations under 50%, eight of them already count among the largest Latino populations of any state, including:  California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey and New York.

When we look at this map, I think what we’re really seeing is where the seats of Latino power will be in the future.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD