Latinos Changing Small Town America

The weekly unfolding of Census numbers has been fun to watch. Every day there’s more concrete evidence of the wide-spread Latino growth and presence across the US.  Places that we generally regard as the “sticks” or “Podunk” have registered an incredible Latino population increase – I’ve stopped asking myself how Latinos got to these places. The idea that Latinos will change America is no longer something to be projected into the future; it’s happening now.

Case in point:

Franklin and Adams county’s, in east Washington state, are now majority Latino. There are roughly 750 thousand Latinos in Washington, 21 thousand of them live in Spokane.

Central Louisiana has seen the largest population growth in that state. Thirty five percent of the new residents are Latino. According to the towntalk.com

The Hispanic population in Rapides Parish nearly doubled, and there are more than three times as many Hispanic residents in Grant Parish as there were 10 years ago.

And in Wyoming, of all places, Sublette County grew at a rate of 73 percent. The Sublette Examiner reports:

The most significant rise in any category for Sublette County, however, was the rise in the number of Hispanic residents, which grew by 535.7 percent from 2000 to 2010 (from 112 in 2000 to 712 in 2010). Hispanics comprise the largest minority group in Wyoming with 50,231 individuals, an increase of 58.6 percent from 2000.

535.7 percent!…and growing.

No wonder the politicians and marketers are up in arms. News Taco has been saying all along that the Census would reveal that the number of Latinos in the US was going to surprise even the most optimistic head counters. And every day, when I read a new report about the Latino growth in some back-woods county, I’m astonished.

I’ll keep bringing you the reports, in case you’re keeping count.

Follow Victor Landa on Twitter @vlanda