Between 1980-2015, 99 percent of rural counties saw a rise in their minority population, bringing new economic vitality and slowing population decline in those areas, according to a report by Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research group focused on Western land use. The U.S. is predicted to have a majority minority-population by 2044.
“Since minority populations tend to be younger than non-Hispanic white populations, increasing minority populations across the rural West are helping to keep school districts open, and jobs and local services from shuttering. As population and jobs increasingly are concentrated in urban places, growth in minority populations is a major force in sustaining and growing the population in many rural counties,” says Headwaters.
Two out of every five rural counties in the West abated or reversed population loss thanks to a rise in minority residents.
“Hispanics represent the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S. in both metro and rural counties, fueled by both natural increase (births) and immigration. Since 1980, 95 percent of rural western counties experienced growth in Hispanic populations,” says the report.