Las Vegas Sun

May 5, 2015


Study: Most children in Nevada belong to racial minorities

For the first time, a majority of children in Nevada belong to racial minorities, a trend fueled mostly by population growth among Hispanics, according to an analysis of the 2010 Census.

The study from the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington also found that Hispanic children outnumber their white counterparts in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Brookings reported that Nevada led the nation with a 30 percent increase in children under age 18 from 2000 through 2010.

Brookings senior fellow William Frey, who authored the report, said policy makers will have to make tough decisions to benefit the younger generation, such as increased investment in education. That investment will be key because many of the newer Hispanics, including recent immigrants, haven’t had as much education as those who make up the current workforce, he said.

If the older generations resist, “it will be a recipe for economic disaster,” Frey said.

Brookings found that white children, who made up 54 percent of the state’s under-18 population in 2000, were only 39.5 percent of that population last year. Hispanics made up 39 percent last year, followed by blacks (8 percent), Asian-Americans (6.5 percent) and multi-racial children (5.9 percent).

While the number of children in Nevada increased by 153,209 over the 10-year period, there was a gain of 115,733 among Hispanics but a decline of 13,396 among whites.

White children in the Las Vegas metropolitan area were already in the minority in 2000 at 47 percent, but their numbers dropped to 33.5 percent last year, while Hispanics made up 42 percent.

State demographer Jeff Hardcastle said he wasn’t surprised by the findings, given the steady growth in the Hispanic population in Nevada since the 1990s.

“This is something that didn’t just explode out of nowhere,” Hardcastle said. “This has been a long-term phenomenon.”

Frey likewise said he wasn’t surprised by the findings because fertility rates among Hispanics have been rising nationally while they have been declining among whites.

In the report, “America’s Diverse Future: Initial Glimpses at the U.S. Child Population from the 2010 Census,” Brookings also pointed to relatively new “racial generation gaps” among children and adults both in Las Vegas and statewide.

American society has always had generation gaps based on age. But there is now an extra layer to that gap, with non-Hispanic white adults making up majorities in Las Vegas and Nevada while non-Hispanic white children are in the minority.

Whereas 33.5 percent of the children in Las Vegas are white, the same was true of 52.8 percent of the adults. Among the nation’s 100 largest cities, that was the seventh largest racial generation gap.


“For most of the older population, when they look at the population of children they don’t see a personal connection,” he said.

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  1. And you can be sure that the majority of the new immigrants are not "legal" immigrants, or they are anchor babies. This is where the real disconnect is in the support of new taxes for education. I don't blame them for not having a personal connection, I wouldn't have one either.

  2. I would make a comment here..but it would probably be removed by staff..Have a nice day everybody..

  3. The U.S. Census does not consider "Hispanic" a race; it is an ethnicity.

  4. The idea of so called anchor babies is just another cover for the racist nonsense of potential tea party members. All children deserve our attention, sympathy, empathy, and resources Vicki, not just the ones you like.

  5. I don't know if this is the first time, Census Bureau data from a few years ago showed the K-12 population was 52 percent non-white in Nevada.

  6. To Mr. Schaffer: Agree with the attention, sympathy and empathy part of your statement...NOT the RESOURCES...that is for their PARENTS to provide, not my tax dollars...I raised mine, schooled mine and in general, took care of mine, all I ask anyone else to do is take care of theirs. Liking them is not an issue, I like all children. I just DON'T feel it is MY obligation to care for them all.

  7. P.S. Mr. Schaffer, you have no business calling me a racist or a tea party member, you have no knowledge of that sir.

  8. Ha Ha Ha to you too Mexican-American, You must have moved here for some REASON...and most do cross that border for economic reasons, that sir is a fact, whether you are one of them, I have no knowledge of. However, the VAST majority of people legally here in this country are tired of being the only country with an unsecured border...the laws ARE going to change, they need to change and they need to change soon. Of course you probably won't see it in this administration.

  9. Making a generalized bigoted statement such as this, "And you can be sure that the majority of the new immigrants are not "legal" immigrants, or they are anchor babies" allows one to infer that you may in fact be racist. You may not think of yourself as one, but that doesn't change the comment.

    Also, it could change during this administration or during Obama's second term, if the Republicans would learn about a nice little concept called compromise. They'll block anything Obama tries to do.

  10. And Democrats will block anything Republicans do (they don't compromise any better)...and so goes the world. And you can "infer" anything you want. FACTS speak for themselves. Yes their are plenty of people who come through the proper channels and many may be hispanic. There are many many many more who do not come here legally and EVERYONE including yourself knows it. These generalizations as you call them is nothing more than the standard political correctness that Democratics are so fond of. My comments centered around why "older residents don't see a personal connection to the is not because they are hispanic, it is because we are paying to school them in already financial distressed school districts, while many are not here legally. I'm sorry you disagree, but I personally don't like paying taxes for people (children or adults) that are NOT legal citizens of this country and there is NOTHING racist about that...if they were illegal and Canadian, I would still feel the same way.

  11. We should be concentrating on making our "Racially Minority" children the smartest and best educated in the nation.

  12. If a woman came here, had a baby and waited for the child to grow up to sponsor her, then SHE WAS HERE UNDER ILLEGAL CERCUMSTANCES...and that is a FACT. I have my facts straight and they don't have anything to do with being a "right winger" because I am NOT a right winger. Gunslinger is correct when he states that there are illegal immigrants from all over the world of different hues, but this article talks about the growth of minorities in Nevada being fueled by the growth of "hispanics" (it's in the first sentence people) which is why I made the statement I made. I frequently travel to NYC so of course I know that we have many illegal immigrants of all colors. BUT, illegal is matter WHAT color you are. Anchor baby is just the terminology of the day and it is used frequently by reporters, politians and commentators alike...If you want to think I am racist you go right ahead if it makes you feel "justified"...I know it is not true, so I don't really care. Play the racist card all you want...because it has no effect me. I know you are just spewing your indignation of not sharing your enthusiasm of an open border. If you come to this country to better your life, and you go through the legal immigration process (that my best friend did just this year) then all of us should welcome you with open arms. But the problem at the border is a whole different game and if you want to bury your head in the sand and ignore it you go right ahead, that's your perogative...but alot of us are fed up with the lack of control and outright lawlessness and lack of regard for the legal citizens of this goes on EVERYDAY, in more states than Nevada and there are plenty of examples, to numerous too mention here. It's a nice feel good idea to think that everyone crossing the boarder is doing so for noble purposes. But that is JUST not true and the only way to put things on track towards a better future for this country is to change the laws and ENFORCE them.

  13. Ah yes, the elephant in the room that everyone around here willfully ignores.

    The brutal fact is that the CCSD's explosive growth and frightening budget woes are directly caused by 25 years of super-charged illegal immigration and exploding Hispanic birth rates.

    Bankrupt school districts and rock-bottom scholastic performance - this is the cost of educating Latin America's children.

    We can only hope our esteemed representatives will raise taxes and shovel more money into the bottomless abyss that is the Clark County School District - while the students who are actually supposed to be here continue their garbage education in classes overflowing with anchor babies.

  14. The "Illegals" are here to stay so get used to it. "They" are "us" now. Unless we want to elect Adolf Hitler or maybe David Duke for president then we're going to have to take a sensible approach to the problem, if in fact it is a problem and not some misdirection to take our minds off all the money that has been stolen from us. I can assure you that the government, banks and investment companies have cost you more than all the "illegals" in this country have. I don't mean to imply that illegal immigration isn't a problem, but it seems that from a rational stand point it should rank below the fact that our government, banks and investment companies are being run by incompetent/selfish/greedy people and they are more of a threat to the individuals liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

    I don't think the people making some of the misguided comments are racist as the general public might interpret it. We're all racist, which is a form of pattern recognition. It is stupid to use a person's race as the only basis/factor to judge them.