Houston's racial diversity as per 2010 US Census

[Sellanious Caesar]

Brown University took the information from the census and compiled these for every city/metropolitan area from 1970 to 2010.

Houston city:

1980:

Non-Hispanic White: 834,061 (52.3%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 436,392 (27.4%)

Hispanic: 281,331 (17.6%)

Asian: 31,431 (2%)

Other: 11,923 (0.8%)

Total Population: 1,595,138

1990:

Non-Hispanic White: 662,642 (40.6%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 447,144 (27.4%)

Hispanic: 450,483 (27.6%)

Asian: 730,865 (37.4%)

Other: 6,158 (0.4%)

Total Population: 1,630,553

2000:

Non-Hispanic White: 601,851 (30.8%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 495,338 (25.4%)

Hispanic: 111,379 (5.7%)

Asian: 135,131 (6.4%)

Other: 14,198 (0.7%)

Total Population: 1,953,631

2010:

Non-Hispanic White: 537,901 (25.6%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 495,792 (23.6%)

Hispanic: 919,668 (43.8%)

Asian: 135,131 (6.4%)

Other: 10,959 (0.5%)

Total Population: 2,099,451

Source: http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/segregation2010/city.aspx?cityid=4835000

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA:

1980:

Non-Hispanic White: 2,065,420 (65.4%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 567,677 (18%)

Hispanic: 452,117 (14.3%)

Asian: 50,732 (1.6%)

Other: 21,126 (0.7%)

Total Population: 3,157,072

1990:

Non-Hispanic White: 2,192,483 (58.2%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 657,304 (17.4%)

Hispanic: 775,972 (20.6%)

Asian: 126,971 (3.4%)

Other: 14,436 (0.4%)

Total Population: 3,767,166

2000:

Non-Hispanic White: 2,274,829 (48.2%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 799,936 (17%)

Hispanic: 1,353,477 (28.7%)

Asian: 247,538 (5.2%)

Other: 39,627 (0.8%)

Total Population: 4,715,407

2010:

Non-Hispanic White: 2,360,472 (39.7%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 1,029,880 (17.3%)

Hispanic: 2,099,412 (35.3%)

Asian: 417,415 (7%)

Other: 39,621 (0.7%)

Total Population: 5,946,800

Source: http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/segregation2010/msa.aspx?metroid=26420

Can check other cities/metros from here: http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/segregation2010/Default.aspx?msa=26420

Eric Fischer's maps of Greater Houston in 2000 & 2010 according to information by the U.S Census Bureau.

Red = White

Blue = Black

Orange = Hispanic

Green = Asian

Yellow = Other/Native American/Pacific Islander

Greater Houston in 2000:

Greater Houston in 2010:

[Simbha]

I've been meaning to post this analysis for a while...

Often people talk about the 'diversity' of a population, but what they really mean is that the city/MSA has a large 'non-Hispanic white' population. But, another way of looking at diversity is the variation within the population, without exclusion.

One way of measuring this latter form of diversity is to apply a method found elsewhere in the social sciences -- to take a 'sum of squares' of shares (e.g., the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index in economic analysis of supplier concentration).

As an example, here's the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown MSA (again, first posted by Sellanious Caesar):

2010:

Non-Hispanic White: 2,360,472 (39.7%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 1,029,880 (17.3%)

Hispanic: 2,099,412 (35.3%)

Asian: 417,415 (7%)

Other: 39,621 (0.7%)

Taking the shares and discarding the percentages, we have: 39.7, 17.3, 35.3, 7 and 0.7.

Squaring these and summing the resultant figures gives: 3,170.96.

A lower number indicates greater variation with the population. To see this, consider two populations: one with 100 groups of 1% each, and the other with two groups with 50% each. The former is 'clearly' more varied, and the index represents this; the first population has an index of (1^2*100 =) 100, while the second population has an index of (50^2*2 =) 5000.

Applying this to the data to which Sellanious Caesar has linked and focusing on the largest 10 MSAs in the country, we get the following indices (sorted in ascending order):

1. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA -- 3170.96

2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA -- 3279.7

3. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA -- 3310.86

4. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA -- 3363.45

5. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA -- 3364.88

6. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA -- 3549.07

7. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA -- 3789.64

8. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA -- 3801.94

9. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA -- 4764.8

10. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA -- 5798.74

So, by this measure at least, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown MSA is the most 'racially diverse' major metropolitan area in the country (of the ten largest).

Two caveats: (i) I am well aware that this method isn't 'perfect'; it's just (to me) an interesting way of quantifying diversity which I thought others might also find interesting. And, (ii) While I think that there's value to understanding ethnic diversity, I think there's an over-emphasis on racial diversity, which is what the data represents - and thus, this analysis too.

Edit: To my knowledge, the method presented above is used in the social sciences with some prevalence, but is not used in the analysis of population diversity; I don't make any claims to have 'invented' this method, but I think this is an interesting application of it.

[Utinga]

I've been meaning to post this analysis for a while...

Often people talk about the 'diversity' of a population, but what they really mean is that the city/MSA has a large 'non-Hispanic white' population. But, another way of looking at diversity is the variation within the population, without exclusion.

One way of measuring this latter form of diversity is to apply a method found elsewhere in the social sciences -- to take a 'sum of squares' of shares (e.g., the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index in economic analysis of supplier concentration).

As an example, here's the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown MSA (again, first posted by Sellanious Caesar):

2010:

Non-Hispanic White: 2,360,472 (39.7%)

Non-Hispanic Black: 1,029,880 (17.3%)

Hispanic: 2,099,412 (35.3%)

Asian: 417,415 (7%)

Other: 39,621 (0.7%)

Taking the shares and discarding the percentages, we have: 39.7, 17.3, 35.3, 7 and 0.7.

Squaring these and summing the resultant figures gives: 3,170.96.

A lower number indicates greater variation with the population. To see this, consider two populations: one with 100 groups of 1% each, and the other with two groups with 50% each. The former is 'clearly' more varied, and the index represents this; the first population has an index of (1^2*100 =) 100, while the second population has an index of (50^2*2 =) 5000.

Applying this to the data to which Sellanious Caesar has linked and focusing on the largest 10 MSAs in the country, we get the following indices (sorted in ascending order):

1. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA -- 3170.96

2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA -- 3279.7

3. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA -- 3310.86

4. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA -- 3363.45

5. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA -- 3364.88

6. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA -- 3549.07

7. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA -- 3789.64

8. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA -- 3801.94

9. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA -- 4764.8

10. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA -- 5798.74

So, by this measure at least, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown MSA is the most 'racially diverse' major metropolitan area in the country (of the ten largest).

Two caveats: (i) I am well aware that this method isn't 'perfect'; it's just (to me) an interesting way of quantifying diversity which I thought others might also find interesting. And, (ii) While I think that there's value to understanding ethnic diversity, I think there's an over-emphasis on racial diversity, which is what the data represents - and thus, this analysis too.

Edit: To my knowledge, the method presented above is used in the social sciences with some prevalence, but is not used in the analysis of population diversity; I don't make any claims to have 'invented' this method, but I think this is an interesting application of it.

[Blue Dogs]

What's the percentage of the Taiwanese American, Korean American & Filipino American populations in Houston as of 2016 ?

[Hastings]

That falls into "other" I think. Apparently the numbers are so small as to not to warrant a specific mention. These groups are almost always excluded in this way but, to their credit, you never hear them cry foul.