Nearly all parts of Washington have grown more racially and ethnically diverse since 2020, according to data released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The new data shows this diversification happened because of two concurrent demographic trends: In most of the state’s population centers, the number of people of color is growing while the white population is shrinking. That said, Washington remained a majority white state.
The new data release is the first time the Census Bureau has produced racial and ethnic data for metropolitan areas and smaller “micropolitan” areas. Washington has 21 such areas located wholly within the state.
In all 21 areas, the number of people of color increased from 2020 to 2023. At the same time, the number of white people decreased in 13 of the 21. In the eight areas where the white population increased, the number of people of color grew at a faster rate.
This trend is more pronounced in some areas, and most notably so in the Seattle metro, which includes King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.
From 2020 to 2023, the share of Seattle-area residents who were people of color increased by slightly more than 3 percentage points, from 39.4% to 42.5%, the largest increase among the 21 areas.
In raw numbers, that change reflects a 133,000-person increase in people of color and a 107,000-person drop in the white population.
The biggest increase in the Seattle area was among Asian people. The Asian population grew by about 76,700, reaching 691,500 in 2023, or 17.1% of the total.
The populations of Black, Hispanic, Native American/Alaska Native and multiracial people also increased in the Seattle area. The number of people who were Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander fell by 1.4%, a decline of fewer than 500 people.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Pullman micropolitan area (Whitman County) had the smallest change in racial/ethnic demographics. The share of the population made up of people of color increased by less than half a percentage point from 2020 to 2023.
In two the 13 metropolitan and micropolitan areas where the number of white people declined, diversity actually decreased as a result.
Both the Yakima and Othello (Adams County) areas were majority Hispanic in 2020. The white population declined in both, while the Hispanic population grew, resulting in an even greater Hispanic majority.
But those are the exceptions. Other than Yakima and Othello, all areas in Washington were majority white in 2020 and remained so in 2023, but with a smaller white majority.
This was also true of the state as a whole. White people remain the majority in Washington, although the white population declined by 2.2%, or more than 111,000 people. The Asian population increased the fastest, by 12.1%, or more than 88,000 people, which was also the largest numeric increase of any group.
A big factor behind the declining white population is age: Among the largest racial and ethnic groups, white people had the highest median age in Washington, at 43.5 years in 2022. For all other groups, the median was below 40, and for Hispanic and multiracial people, it was below 30. An older population, of course, means a higher death rate and lower birthrate.
Of Washington’s 7.8 million residents in 2023, around 5 million, or 64.2%, were white. The Hispanic population was second largest at more than 1.1 million, or 14.6%, followed by the Asian population at nearly 819,000, or 10.5%. Combined, the white, Hispanic and Asian population account for nearly 90% of Washington’s total.
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