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Source: US Census Bureau / US Census Bureau

New population estimates for the Indianapolis area – city and metro – show a stark picture of a racially diverse capitol city and increasingly racial diverse suburbs.  The 2014 Census estimates released Thursday (June 25) and analyzed by Indy’s leading minority demographer, Afternoons with Amos’ Amos Brown, also show that Indianapolis’ hoped for attempts to reverse decades of white flight from the city isn’t working out the way city leaders had hoped. And like other major cities across the country, Indianapolis/Marion County has become a city where minorities make up the majority of the population of the very young, school aged and teen population. An Indianapolis where the two-of every five city/county residents are minority. A record high! The major highlights of the 2014 Census estimates for Indianapolis:

•The estimates show that despite the growth of downtown housing, the population growth of white non-Hispanics in Indianapolis/Marion County continues anemic. The Census estimates that since 2010, white population has had a net growth of 1,359 or 0.3%.  Worse, the Census estimates that even though Indy’s white population had a net increase in population of 1,198 between July 2012 and July 2013, white population actually decreased by 423 between July 2013 and July 2014.

•The city/county’s growth continues to be fueled by the city’s minority communities. Since 2010, the Census Bureau estimates that Asian population has grown 5,365 or 28.2%; the Hispanic population has increased 7,306 or 8.6% and the Black population has soared 16,351 or 6.3%.

•The city/county’s youth and youthful populations are now a minority-majority population.  According to the Census estimates, 54.4% of youth under 5 in the city/county are minorities. 56.5% of school age youth 5 to 14 are minorities; a clear majority of youth under 18 are minority. And 44.9% of millennials, those aged 15 to 34, are minorities.

In response to the disappointing news that white non-Hispanic population in the city/county wasn’t growing, Brad Jacklin, Mayor Greg Ballard’s Press Secretary, bragged that the city was focused on “Attract(ing) talented, skilled workers to the City to meet our corporate community’s increasing demands for talent.  To date, approximately 60% of the individuals moving into Indianapolis’ new residential developments come from outside Marion County and bring with them an average income of over $90,000 per year.” Regarding the growing racial diversity of the city, Jacklin said, “Indianapolis stood up and said loudly that it welcomes all. Diversity fosters ideas from people with different backgrounds, leads to greater economic growth, and creates a richer society that benefits everyone in Indianapolis.”

Family Reading Outside

Source: Paul Bradbury / Getty Images

AFRICAN-AMERICAN POPULATION

The 2014 Census estimates confirm that by now Indianapolis’ African-American community has crossed a milestone – the thirty percent mark.  As of last July, 29.7% of the city’s population of 934,234 was African-American. Last July, Indianapolis/Marion County’s Black population was estimated at 277,168; an increase of 16,351 or 6.3% since the 2010 Census. Black growth comprised nearly 53.0% of the city/county’s entire growth of 30,850 since the last official census in 2010.  Meanwhile, African-American population has surged in the eleven county Indianapolis/Carmel/Anderson Metropolitan Area. Black metro population now stands at 325,583; a gain of 24,639, or 8.2% since 2010. One-in-six persons in the Metro are now African-American. Since 2010, the Indianapolis metro has been responsible for 64.1% of the entire growth of Indiana’s Black population; with Indianapolis/Marion County responsible for 42.6% of the state’s total Black population growth.  Statewide, Indiana’s African-American population crossed a milestone – 700,000 – in 2014 to 703,925; an increase of 38,423, or 5.8% since 2010. Blacks now make up 10.7% of Indiana’s 6.6 million population.  And one-in-eight persons (12.5%) living in the Central Indiana Region, as defined by the thirty-three county Indianapolis television market, are African-American. African-American population of the Indianapolis (and Lafayette) TV markets is 381,779; or 54.2% of the state’s entire Black population. In the years since the 2010 Census, Black population growth continues to surge in the Indy metro’s suburban counties. Since 2010, Hamilton County’s Black population has grown 26.4% to 14,679; Hendricks County’s Black population climbed 30.6% to 10,749 and Johnson County’s Black population rose 56.6% to 3,824. Larger percentage gains, though with smaller Black populations, were seen in Boone County, up 72.7%; Brown County up 77.7% and Morgan County up 56.5%. Madison County has the smallest Black growth of any metro county, up 0.4% to 12,526 since 2010. Overall, African-American population growth in Indy’s suburbs has increased 20.7% since 2010 to 48,415. Marion County obviously has the largest Black population.  Followed by: Lake (128,990); Allen (51,476); St. Joseph (39,963); Vanderburgh (20,162); Elkhart (15,380); Hamilton (14,679); LaPorte (14,205); Madison (12,526) and Tippecanoe (10,769); Hendricks (10,749) and Clark (10,129).

hispanic family

Source: Getty

HISPANIC POPULATION

One of the different population trends in the Indianapolis area and the state has been a slowing of Hispanic population growth as the meteoric growth that began in the 1990’s has slowed markedly. So much so, that Black growth in the Indianapolis area in actual numbers has been stronger than Hispanic growth. Though Hispanic growth is larger in percentage terms. 2014 Census estimates show Hispanic population in the Indianapolis Metro increasing 11.5% to 125,375.  Hispanic population of Indianapolis/Marion County climbed 8.6% to 91,772.  Statewide, the Hispanic population rose 10.9% to 432,305. Hispanics comprise 9.8% of persons living in Indianapolis/Marion County; 6.4% of metro residents; 5.7% of Indy TV market (Central Indiana) residents and 6.6% of the entire state. Almost a third (30.3%) of Indiana’s Hispanic growth occurred in the Indianapolis Metro. Despite the perception of Hispanic population growth in Indianapolis, the reality is that the African-American population, in actual numbers, is increasing greater than Hispanics. The 2014 Census estimates say that in the Indianapolis metro, Black population climbed 24,639 compared to 12,927 for Hispanics.  And in Indianapolis/Marion County, Black population rose a stunning 16,351 compared to just 7,306 for Hispanics.  It’s only statewide where Hispanics actual population growth was strong than that for Blacks. 42,598 for Hispanics compared to 38,423 for Blacks.

Two women praying in library

Source: Design Pics/Don Hammond / Getty

WHITE NON-HISPANIC POPULATION

Here is where the 2014 Census estimates delivered devastating news. Indianapolis civic leaders had been assuming that the sharp growth of apartments and condos in Indianapolis’ downtown was fueling the long awaited resurgence of whites moving back into the city/county. Other cities have shown increases in white population and though Indianapolis’ downtown has experienced that growth, it’s offset by continuing white population losses throughout the rest of the city/county. The 2012 and 2013 Census estimates had reported slight increases in white non-Hispanics in Indianapolis. A gain that hadn’t been seen in decades. But the 2014 Census estimates shattered that trend reporting a slight net decline of 423 whites in the city/county from 2013 to 2014. And given the level of new housing units that came on line between July 2013 and July 2014 downtown, the actual decline is devastating to Indianapolis’ hopes for a white resurgence. How serious is the problem of white population decline in the city/county? Since the 2010 census to now, the city/county’s white population has grown by an anemic 1,359 or just 0.3%.  But Indiana’s capital’s anemic white population growth pales to the abysmal net white population growth statewide which is just 3,156 or 0.1% since the 2010 Census. But where white non-Hispanic growth is on fire in the ten suburban Indianapolis metro counties where white population has grown 31,619 or 3.6% since 2010 to a record 918,567. That white population growth has offset the sharp declines in white population in Marion and many other Indiana counties. Since the last decennial census, four of Indianapolis’ suburban counties – Brown, Madison, Putnam and Shelby Counties – showed declines in white population, while Hamilton County had the highest white population growth (19,056 or 8.0%), followed by Hendricks (5,945 or 4.6%), Johnson (4,908 or 3.8%) and Boone (3,821 or 7.2%). Whites are now super concentrated in Indianapolis’ suburbs as only 37.1% of the white metro population lives in the City of Indianapolis. That compares to 45.9% of the metro Asian population that lives in the city; 73.2% of the Hispanic population and 85.1% of the Black  population. Indiana’s overall total population growth continues to be anemic; just 1.3% increase since 2010 says the Census at 6,596,855, up 1.7% or 113,053. More ominous for the state, nearly three-fourths (73.8%) of Indiana’s population growth was in the Indianapolis metro. Just 57.9% of Indianapolis/Marion County residents are white; a new record low while the percentage of city/county residents that are minorities (42.1%) has hit another record high.

asian family

Source: Getty

ASIAN POPULATION

The 2014 Census estimates again confirm that, in percentage terms, the fastest growing racial groups in Indiana are Asians.  Statewide, the Asian population has grown 25.5% since 2010 to 132,406 in 2014, up 26,871. Two-in-five Asians in Indiana (40.1%) live in the Indianapolis Metro area which saw its Asian population grow 28.3% or 11,698 to 53,090. Indianapolis/Marion County’s Asian population also grew 28.2%, up 5,365 to 24,388. Asians make up 2.0% of Indiana’s population; 2.7% of the Indianapolis Metro and 2.6% of the city/county. CLICK THE LINK TO DOWNLOAD CHART WITH DATA ON POPULATION BY KEY RACE/ETHNIC GROUPS IN INDIANA, INDY AND METRO COUNTIES: 2014 CENSUS ESTIMATES CHART BY RACE/ETHNICITY FOR INDY