IU center offers analysis of Hoosier census redistricting data

By George Vlahakis

The U.S. Census Bureau delivered to Indiana Gov. Frank O’Bannon and state legislative leaders the official Census 2000 Redistricting Data File for Indiana earlier this month.

The data are among the first released from the census that was conducted on April 1, 2000. The data will be used to redraw boundaries for federal, state and local legislative districts, and provide information about the size and composition of the state’s population, with detailed population counts for Indiana’s counties, cities, towns and townships, by race and ethnicity.

Here are highlights from an initial look at the data by demographers at the Indiana Business Research Center in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business:

Hispanic population

• As anticipated, the state’s Hispanic population has grown substantially, from about 99,000 in 1990 to almost 215,000 in 2000, for growth of 116,000 or 117 percent.

• Only 1.8 percent of Indiana’s 1990 population claimed Hispanic ethnicity, while 3.5 percent indicated Hispanic ethnicity on their census forms in 2000.

• Counties showing the largest numeric growth in their Hispanic populations include Marion, Lake, Elkhart, Allen, St. Joseph, Tippecanoe and Porter counties.

Together, these counties account for 70 percent of the state’s Hispanic population and for 68 percent of the state’s growth in Hispanic population.

Race data

• A small portion of Indiana’s population, 1.2 percent, responded with more than one race category, a new option in 2000.

• Regarding those who responded to the race question with a single category (98.8 percent of all Hoosiers), growth rates for the race categories were: white (6 percent), black (18 percent), Asian (62 percent), American Indian (24 percent).

• In 1990, 90.6 percent of Indiana’s population checked the white category for race. In 2000, of those who responded with a single race, 88.6 percent considered their race to be white.

• Growth in the Hispanic population and more rapid growth in minority race categories support the general observation that Indiana has become more racially and ethnically diverse.

• At the same time, population in the minority categories still represents a small portion of the state’s population: the Asian population in Indiana represents 1 percent of the total population.

County totals

• Hamilton County was the fastest-growing Indiana county, growing from 109,000 in 1990 to almost 183,000 in 2000, for growth of 74,000 persons or 68 percent.

Hamilton County’s growth outpaced all other Indiana counties; the state as a whole, which grew by 9.7 percent; and the nation, which grew by 13.2 percent.

• Other rapidly growing counties include Hendricks, Johnson, Owen, Noble, Hancock, Steuben, Boone and Jasper counties. Each of these counties grew by at least 20 percent since 1990.

• The high population growth rates in many suburban Hoosier counties are consistent with growth patterns experienced by the nation as a whole, with much of the rapid population growth occurring in suburban areas.

• Marion County, by far the most populous Hoosier county, grew by 7.9 percent between 1990 and 2000. Marion County’s population stood at 860,000 on census day 2000. Marion County’s population growth exceeded what previously released estimates had indicated when the county’s 1999 population was estimated to be 811,000.

• The Indianapolis metro area, consisting of Marion and eight surrounding counties, grew by 227,000 persons, or 16.4 percent. In 1990, one in four Hoosiers lived in the Indianapolis metro area. In 2000, 26.4 percent of the state’s population lived there.

• Miami County is a good example of the incomplete picture that results when only two endpoints of a time interval are examined. The counts indicate that Miami County’s population declined by 815 people between 1990 and 2000. However, it is likely that the county’s population bottomed out in mid-decade (the 1995 estimate was 32,400) after the restructuring of Grissom Air Force Base, and that the county’s population has rebounded since 1995 almost to its 1990 level.

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http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu