March 24, 2011 | 2:54 PM | By

D.C. Census: Black population down, white population up

FILED UNDER: The People, 2010 Census, D.C. Population

The much-awaited 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data has finally been officially released to the public and yes, all of the predictions that D.C. would just barely remain a majority-black city turned out to be true (no surprises here).

According to the data, 50.7 percent of District residents are black, 38.5 percent are white, 9.1 percent identify as Latino or Hispanic, 3.5 percent are Asian, 4.1 percent identify as some other race, and 2.9 percent are of two or more races. Take note of the nifty Census map below to see how big of a change we’ve seen in just the past 10 years: the white population increased by 31.4 percent while the black population decreased by 11.1 percent. But we’re still Chocolate City — just barely.

  • Anonymous

    The headline should be reversed. It should be D.C. Census: Black population Down, white population Up

  • Elahe Izadi

    eek!! I’ll change it.

  • Elahe Izadi

    thanks for the catch, by the way.

  • Ytprabhu

    Can we say GENTRIFICATION! And I must say I don’t know how I feel about that! I would have ask anyone who thinks it’s a good thing: Why?

  • http://twitter.com/razibkhan Razib Khan

    so i guess DC will be non-absolute majority choc in the next ACS. but from what little exp. i have with DC, this is irrelevant because of the extreme segregation.

  • Ytprabhu
  • Blanonymouse Male

    Ytprabhu, gentrification is good because it means DIVERSITY.

    Diversity is good because it means multicultural. Haven’t you gotten the memo yet?

  • Blanonymouse Male

    Ms. Izadi writes, “Take note of the nifty Census map below to see how big of a change we’ve seen in just the past 10 years: the white population increased by 31.4 percent while the black population decreased by 11.1 percent. But we’re still Chocolate City — just barely.”

    Do you consider being a “choclate city” a good or bad thing? Isn’t DC being a “diverse city” with a wide range of colors from dark brown to pale pink more in line with NPR’s diversity and multicultural agenda?

    Seems you are sending mixed messages here.