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Census Data Map
Working in the marketing world, it is amazing that in 2011 there are many brands who still do not have an online component to their marketing strategies. There are even less that have a strategy focusing on multicultural segments, or more specifically, the Hispanic market. As the 2000 Census was a wake up call to marketers and more importantly the executives working with the budget allocation, the 2010 Census will again drive home the point that the Hispanic market is a major influence in the U.S.
Most marketers would not run a U.S. campaign excluding California (12 percent of the U.S. Population) yet many do not consider the Hispanic population (15 percent of the U.S. Population). This is astonishing. With the release of information from each individual state, the Census information is in line with what most already knew, the Hispanic population continues to grow.
While Texas and California both increased from 32 percent to 38 percent, representing only about six million people, even the states that are not considered to have a sizable Hispanic population are seeing significant increases. While some focus on problems of immigration, there are parts of the country that are actively reaching out to the Hispanic population to regenerate their communities, as mentioned in a recent article “Shrinking Rust Belt States seek Hispanics“.
The Census data of course has a ton of data that could keep anyone busy, however even with a quick glance, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that 38 percent of the population in major states warrants some marketing effort. For those with a few extra minutes, have a look at some of the major metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles County (54 percent Hispanic), Dallas County (38 percent Hispanic) or Cook County “Chicago” (24 percent Hispanic) and you’ll realize that even with a small effort there are ways to begin reaching out to this important and influential market.
While not all of the data has been released yet, to get the latest compilation from the Census, we recommend checking out Pew Hispanic Center’s Census 2010 page .
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Hispanics are understandably happy about the census results, since it will mean that their interests will be better represented in Congress. Presumably they would be unhappy if their percentages had fallen, and there is nothing wrong with that. So I presume it is equally understandable that all other races would react with similar emotions to a rise, or a fall, in their own percentages. In particular it is only natural that members of any race would feel threatened if a fall in their percentages portended that their interests would be more poorly represented in Congress.
I believe the government has anticipated this reaction, and a desire to minimize it is what explains why all non-Hispanic percentages have been misleadingly inflated in the census data. If you go to the census website, and to Texas in particular, You will see that Whites are reported as being 70.4% and Blacks as 11.8%. But what is not made clear is that these are percentages of the non-Latino residual, not of the entire population of the state.
I am in the process of putting up a website, citipedia.us, which not only corrects these figures, but which graphically displays all the corrected data in what I hope people will find to be quite an interesting way. The true figure for Whites in Texas is not 70.4% but rather a mere 43.9%, and for Blacks it is only 7.4% not 11.8%.
Blacks are represented, on an outline map of the state, as the outermost band, all the way down to the central area representing Whites. Such an ordering was chosen to be symbolic of how the exploding Hispanic component has the dual effect of pushing out Blacks and squeezing out Whites.
While this is definitely a wake-up call for Whites, it is Blacks, being a relatively small component to begin with, who have the most to fear in terms of losing representation for their interests in Congress. For if predictions come true that the current trends will continue, African Americans can look forward, during the 21st century, to watching themselves become an insignificant mini-minority in a country where Hispanics will be a massive super-majority.