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Dallas' Latino population up 101 percent Rise in the '90s second only to Phoenix in U.S. 04/05/2001 By Dianne Solís / The Dallas Morning News Dallas' booming economy in the 1990s served as a magnet for immigrants, helping it boast the second-fastest-growing Latino population among large U.S. cities.
Dallas' Latino population grew 101 percent from 1990 to 2000, to 422,587, according to Census Bureau figures.
Only Phoenix's grew faster, at 128 percent.
In terms of raw numbers, New York, Los Angeles and Houston attracted more Latinos than Dallas, but none exceeded Dallas' percentage increase. "Dallas is so close to the border and being so prosperous for the last decade, it just acted as a magnet for people emigrating from Mexico and that region," said City Council member John Loza.
Dallas has 422,587 Latinos, the eighth-largest Latino community in the United States.
Phoenix, by comparison, ranks sixth, with 449,972. Mr. Loza, an avid Mexico-watcher, said he expects the trend to continue in the current decade.
Two factors will play against each other, he said. One is Mexican President Vicente Fox's proposal for a more open border for legal immigration; the other is the success with which Mr. Fox invigorates the Mexican economy, which would encourage people to stay.
Dallas became a majority-minority city after the 1990 census. But Latinos now outnumber blacks as the largest minority.
In 1990, Latinos were 21 percent of Dallas' population, and blacks were 29.5 percent.
According to the 2000 census, Latinos are 36 percent of the population, with blacks at 26 percent.
"What you're seeing in Dallas is part of a new phenomenon, one that goes away from a black-and-white paradigm into a more multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial paradigm," said Raul Yzaguirre, president of the Washington-based National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy organization.
"This new paradigm is one in which the term 'minority' is becoming irrelevant."
The growth of Latinos was substantial across Texas, with a 54 percent increase from 1990.
That was higher even than California, whose Latino population grew 43 percent, census figures show.
California still has 4 million more Latinos than Texas.
Between them, California and Texas are home to more than half of the nation's Latinos.
Staff writer Frank Trejo contributed to this report. |
