The growth of the Hispanic population in Rhode Island saved that state from losing two Congress seats. The number of Latinos in this country keeps increasing, but the gain in the political and civic arena is still to be perceived. Numbers, alone, don’t mean progress for the Latino community.
Rapid growth among Rhode Island’s Hispanic population from 2000 to 2010 prevented the state from losing one of its two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, a Providence Journal analysis of new census data shows.
Without the 39,835 additional residents who identified themselves as Hispanic, Rhode Island would have lost 35,587 people from 2000 to 2010. That would have joined the Ocean State with Michigan, the only state to lose population in the 2010 census. As it was, Rhode Island ranked 49th in population growth, gaining 4,248, or 0.4 percent.
Besides determining seats in the U.S. House, the census numbers are used to determine shares of federal aid and to draw the boundaries for voting districts for the U.S. House, the state Senate and the state House of Representatives. The shape and size of those districts determine how political power is distributed across the state.
The U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday made public numbers from the 2010 Census to guide state lawmakers in redrawing those boundaries. The numbers detail the makeup of Rhode Island’s people by geography, by race, by Hispanic origin, by age and by how much of their housing stock is occupied. The official count of the population is 1,052,567 as of April 1, 2010.
Among the facts shown by the numbers:
• Providence and South Kingstown led the state in terms of the number of people added to their populations, while two small towns, West Greenwich and North Smithfield, had the highest percentage gains.
• Warwick and Woonsocket lost the most people, while the Middletown and Newport populations fell by the largest percentages.
• Washington County, frequently called South County, was the fastest-growing region of the state, followed by Providence County.
• Bristol, Kent and Newport Counties lost population.
• The percentage of Rhode Islanders describing their race only as white declined, while those identifying themselves only as black, American Indian or Asian rose, as did those who said they were of mixed race.
• In the wake of the housing-market collapse, the number of vacant housing units rose.
• The number of children living in Rhode Island fell.
• Hispanics officially became the majority population in Central Falls, while Providence grew closer to that status. If separated, Providence’s Hispanic population of 67,835 alone would be the fifth-largest city in the state.
The rise of the Hispanic population was the biggest news in Rhode Island, as it has been across the country, from the 2010 Census.
The Census Bureau considers Hispanic origin an ethnicity, asking two separate questions on census forms: what race or races a person is and whether that person is of Hispanic origin.
Without growth in the Hispanic population, not only would Rhode Island have lost population, but so would cities including Providence and Central Falls, which recorded sharp declines in the non-Hispanic population.
If Rhode Island’s Hispanic population had remained stable during the last decade, the state would have lost a U.S. House seat, along with the political clout and federal aid money that comes with it.
Every 10 years, the U.S. Constitution mandates a count of the population to determine how many seats each state will have in the House. Congress uses a complicated formula known as the Method of Equal Proportions to divide the districts. The Journal performed that calculation after subtracting the growth in the state’s Hispanic population.
The result showed that, for the first time since the 1790s, Rhode Island would have qualified for only a single seat in the House, the minimum every state is guaranteed by the Constitution.
North Carolina, which maintained its 13 seats in the House as a result of the 2010 Census, would have gained a 14th seat at Rhode Island’s expense if not for the Hispanic population growth, the analysis shows.
The list of the 10 most-populous municipalities saw two changes from 2000 to 2010, but none in the top five.
Although Warwick held in second place, third-place Cranston narrowed the gap between the two. Warwick lost 3,136 people to end at 82,672, while Cranston added 1,118 people to 80,387.
One reason for Warwick’s decline, according to Mayor Scott Avedisian, was the expansion of T.F. Green Airport, which required demolishing hundreds of homes during the decade. With few new houses built in the city during that period, people who lost their homes to the airport moved away, he said. “It has a big effect.”
Meanwhile, Cumberland, which gained 1,666 people, knocked North Providence, which lost 333, out of eighth place.
And South Kingstown, gaining 2,718, leaped past West Warwick and Johnston, into 10th place.
In broader regions, Washington County grew by 2.8 percent, reaching a population of 126,979.
Providence County also grew, adding 0.8 percent to reach 626,667 residents.
The three other counties lost population: Kent, down 0.6 percent to 166,158; Newport, down 3.0 percent to 82,888; and Bristol, down 1.5 percent to 49,875.
The number of vacant housing units statewide rose by 18,375, according to the bureau. The percentage of units vacant rose from 7.1 percent in 2000 to 10.7 percent in 2010.
The number of vacant units rose, so did the total number of units in the state, by 23,551. That means about three-quarters of the housing capacity added during the decade was not being used by the end of the 10-year period.
The figures for 2000 were: 439,837 total housing units, 408,424 occupied and 31,413 vacant.
For 2010: 463,388 total units, 413,600 occupied and 49,788 vacant.
Not all of the vacant housing units would be deserted homes. The census counts many vacation homes as vacant because they are not occupied on April 1, the official date of the census.
And the number of children living in Rhode Island declined.
In 2000, 247,822 children lived here, according to the Census Bureau. That was 23.6 percent of the state’s population of 1,048,319.
By 2010, the number of children had dropped 23,866 to 223,956, or 21.3 percent of the state’s slightly larger population of 1,052,567.
The number of adults grew, both in total numbers and percent of the population.
In 2000, adults accounted for 800,497 people or 76.4 percent of the population.
By 2010, that was 828,611 or 78.7 percent.
The Journal