2007

N.C. AIZENMAN, WASHINGTON POST - The District of Columbia's longtime status as a majority-black city appears to be diminishing. . . The 14 percent increase in non-Hispanic white District residents and 6 percent decrease in blacks from 2000 to 2006 are probably the result of the gentrification of once-affordable city neighborhoods, demographers said. The impact on the city's racial makeup is noticeable. In 2000, blacks made up 60 percent of the District's population. By 2006, that figure was 55 percent. If the trends continue, the city will almost certainly cease to be majority black by 2020, said Robert E. Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. "It will wind up more like a Los Angeles or a New York, with no clear majority.". . .

From 2000 to 2006, the number of non-Hispanic black residents in the District declined to 322,000, the number of non-Hispanic whites rose to about 184,000 and the number of Asians increased to 18,000, a 20 percent gain.

NATIVE WASHINGTONIANS

In 2000, 39% of DC residents were native born. This was higher than Alaska, Arizona, Florida, orNevada.

2006

ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS, the metro area had a net increase of 418,000 people between 2000 and 2005. But 245,000 were due to births minus deaths. 200,000 was due to immigration. American citizens actually declined by 40,000.

17% OF THE AREA'S Jews - or about 36,000 - live in DC. The area has the sixth largest Jewish population in the U.S. 30% of area Jews are Conservative and 31% Reform with 2% Orthodox. There are 16,000 Jewish lawyers in the area and we have more Jewish singles than the entire Jewish population of Seattle. The intermarriage rate is 41% compared to 48% nationally. The overall fertility rate of Jewish women in the area is 1.9 children, les than the 2.15 replacement rate. 85& of area Jews have a college education and 52% have a graduate degree.

[Greater Washington Jewish Community Study 2003]

12.86: Percentage of residents who are foreign-born.
39.1: Percentage of residents who are college graduates.
29.7: Average one-way commute, in minutes.
$44,926: Median household income in 2004. - Washington Post

ASIANS, LATINOS AND OTHER MINORITIES accounted for two-thirds of the Washington region's recent population growth, according to new census figures that point to dramatic increases in counties well beyond the Capital Beltway.

IN 1980 21% of all DC cabbies were foreign born. By 2000 62% were. 25% of all DC taxi drivers were born in Africa. 27% of cabbies are college graduates. - Washingtonian

The combined population of illegal immigrants in Maryland, Virginia and the District increased almost 70 percent from an estimated 300,000 in 2000 to about 500,000 in 2004, said demographer Jeffrey S. Passel of the Pew Hispanic Center. - Washington Post

PETER WHORISKEY WASHINGTON POST - From 1994 to 2002, the large swath of all District neighborhoods west of Rock Creek Park showed an increase in births of 33 percent, from 910 to 1,214, according to city data. Similarly, a handful of prosperous Capitol Hill neighborhoods showed a jump in annual births of 79 percent, from 44 to 79, over that time. . . The rest of the city showed a drop of 30 percent, from 9,000 to fewer than 6,300.

BLACK SAME SEX HOUSEHOLDS IN THE DC-BALTIMORE AREA

NATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN TASK FORCE - The US Census counts 4,997 Black gay and lesbian couples in the Washington, DC-Baltimore area. This represents 5.9% of all Black same-sex couples in the U.S. Twenty percent of all same-sex households in the Washington-Baltimore area are Black same-sex households (i.e. at least one partner is Black).

The average age of individuals in Black same-sex couples was 40.5.

The median household income for Black male same-sex couples was $53,500. The median household income for Black female same-sex couples was $58,300.

Fifty-two percent of Black female same-sex couples and 41% of Black male same-sex couples are raising children.

Nine percent of Black female same-sex couples and seven percent of Black male same-sex couples are raising non-biological (fostered or adopted) children.

Forty-five percent of Black male same-sex couples and 41% of Black female same-sex couples report living in the same residence five years ago.

Fifty-seven percent of Black male same-sex couples and 55% of Black female same-sex couples own their own home.

Sixty-seven percent of Black men in same-sex households and 73% of Black women in same-sex households report working full-time.

Twenty percent of Black men and 24% of Black women in same-sex households work in the public sector.

Twenty-one percent of men and 10% of women in Black same-sex couples are military veterans.

 WASH POST - The Washington area's Jewish population has grown to 215,600 in the last 20 years, creating the sixth-largest Jewish community in the country, according to a survey of Jewish life and practice released this week. . . The last study of the region, in 1983, estimated the number of Jews at 157,300 and the number of Jewish households at 68,000. The greatest growth in the number of Jewish households, 343 percent, occurred in upper Montgomery County, primarily around Gaithersburg, while the number of households in Northern Virginia -- Alexandria and Falls Church, and Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun counties -- increased by 111 percent. The number grew by 38 percent in lower Montgomery, including Bethesda, Rockville and Chevy Chase, and by 32 percent in the District. Prince George's County recorded a 13 percent decline. . .

The areas with larger Jewish communities than the Washington region are New York, 1.4 million; Los Angeles, 519,200; Chicago, 261,000; Broward County, Fla., 234,000; and Boston, 227,000. The estimated Jewish population in the United States is 5.2 million, according to the National Jewish Population Survey released last fall. . .

About half of the Washington area marriages involving Jews 35 to 49 years old are intermarriages, a rate that is close to the national average. But the rate of intermarried couples in the age category of 65 and older is among the greatest in the country -- 27 percent for couples 65 to 74 and 37 percent for those 75 and over.

The Census Bureau estimated that by July last year the city's population dropped by 1,161 persons, from 572,059 in 2000 to 570,898. . . People of Hispanic origin, which the bureau tabulates separately from race, made the largest population gains in the District and its suburbs. . . The District's Hispanic population hit 52,456, an increase of 7,503 or 16 percent. The Asian population increased 10.9 percent, from 15,762 to 17,484. Meanwhile, the number of non-Hispanic blacks in the District dropped 7,060 to 335,404, and the number of non-Hispanic whites fell by 2,788 to 158,472. [WASHINGTON TIMES]

DC has dropped to 23rd place among cities and now has less population than either Charlotte or El Paso.

CHANGE IN BLACK, WHITE, AND LATINO POPULATION 1990-2000

Kalorama, Adams Morgan
Black -35%
White +8%
Latino No change

Columbia Hgts, Mt. Pleasant, Park View
Black -24%
White +24%
Latino +43%

Shaw, Howard Univ, LeDroit Pk
Black -15%
White +47%
Latino +33%

Logan Circle-Lower Shaw
Black -26%
White +19%
Latino +80% [Census, Wash Post]

Figures compiled by the Washington Post show that college educated blacks prefer living in the inner suburbs to DC. 29% of the inner suburb black population has a college degree while only 18% in DC does. In both cases, the percentage of college educated blacks is higher than the national average for college educated blacks and the percentage living in the inner suburbs is higher that the average for all Americans (29% v. 24%).

College educated Hispanics slightly prefer DC to the inner suburbs (25% to 21%) and are much more prevalent here than across the nation (10%)

Non-Hispanic college educated whites prefer DC (81%) to the inner suburbs (60%).

DC ranks fourth as a destination for legal and illegal immigrants, with 81,000 immigrants moving to the area in 1998. [INS]

Almost one in ten District residents is latino and over the last decade latinos have become D.C.'s fastest growing ethnic minority. Latino residents have traditionally concentrated in Ward 1, but 2000 Census data show significant gains in Wards 4, 5, and 6 as well.

GROWTH IN LATINO POPULATION

LATINO POPULATION BY WARD

WARD 7 % black by decade

1940: 41%
1950 43%
1960 67%
1970 93%
1980 96%

% of city's adults who have never married: 48%

DC FAMILIES - % BY TYPE
COUNCIL OF LATINO AGENCIES

BLACKEST CITIES IN AMERICA				Black or African American Alone
Rank	Place Name	State	Total Population	Number	Percent
1	Gary city	IN	102,746	86,340	84.0
2	Detroit city	MI	951,270	775,772	81.6
3	Birmingham city	AL	242,820	178,372	73.5
4	Jackson city	MS	184,256	130,151	70.6
5	New Orleans city	LA	484,674	325,947	67.3
6	Baltimore city	MD	651,154	418,951	64.3
7	Memphis city	TN	650,-	399,208	61.4
8	Atlanta city	GA	416,474	255,689	61.4
9	Washington city	DC	572,059	343,312	60.0

US CENSUS

BETWEEN 1990 and 2000, DC lost 26% of its adult citizens with less than a 9th grade education.

THE LATEST Census figures confirmed the casual windshield appraisal. DC gained 21,000 households earning $100,000 or more during the 1990s while losing 22,000 households that earned less than $25,000. There was little change in the distribution of income between these extremes. While these figures do not account for inflation, they give a rough picture of the socio-economic change in the city spurred by a government that has cut - or let deteriorate - services to the poor while catering to the new city's new boom class. The number of families in poverty actually increased slightly, probably reflecting the rotten floor of DC economics, i.e. while many lower income residents drift out of the city to the cheaper suburbs, the really poor have little choice but to hang on in worse conditions. In 1990, those in poverty represented 16% of lower income residents; today they represent 24%.

Other changes of note:

- a 40% increase in the city's Spanish speaking residents - now about 9% of the population.

- a noticeable loss of older residents

- fewer people living in the same house as five years ago

- there has been a sharp increase in the number of managers and professionals and a sharp loss of those working in retail

- the number of government workers has declined.

POPULATION 65 AND OVER

1990 72,259
2000 66,478

CHANGE (5,781)

LIVING IN SAME HOUSE AS FIVE YEARS AGO

1990 53.5%
2000 49.5%

FOREIGN BORN

1990 9.7%
2000 12.9%

SPANISH SPEAKING (OVER 5 YEARS)

1990 35,021 6.1%
2000 49,461 9.2%

OTHER ETHNICITIES

MANAGERS AND PROFESSIONALS

1990 39%
2000 51%

EMPLOYED IN RETAIL TRADE

1990 10.4%
2000 6%

GOVERNMENT WORKERS

1990 32%
2000 26%