....August 24, 2:47 PM
	Boro Remains White Despite Minority Surge Anush Harutyunyan Ricci is one of many Queens immigrants who arrived since the last Census, contributes to the ethnic diversity of the borough but has not added to the non-white population. By Brian M. Rafferty and Juliet Werner Although Queensites will love to tell you that their borough is the most diverse in the country, it remains majority white. This is not the case for an ever-growing number of counties nationwide. On Aug. 9 the U.S. Census Bureau released the latest Country Characteristic Population Estimates for July 1, 2006. The data gathered through the Population Estimates Program revealed that one in every 10 of the nation’s 3,141 counties has a population that is now more that 50 percent minority. The two largest counties that became “majority minority” between July 1, 2005 and July 1, 2006 were Denver County, Co and East Baton Rouge Parish, La. Among the other states that saw counties surpassing the threshold were Montana, New Mexico and Virginia; Texas had three. But there are many ways to qualify as “majority minority.” For example, Los Angeles County’s population is 71 percent minority. One out of every 14 minority residents lives in the City of Angels. Still, it was Starr County in Texas, right on the Mexican border, which had the highest proportion minority at 98 percent. According to the Census Bureau’s fact sheet, nearly 50 percent of Queens’ population is foreign born. However, when it comes to non-whites, Bronx and Brooklyn are in the lead. In Queens, as of July 1, 2006, there are 1,010,417 non-white residents, or a total of 44.8 percent of the borough’s population. That number is up slightly from 44.6 percent just a year ago and 43.8 percent in 2000. Compared to the other boroughs, Queens is right in the middle. The Bronx leads with 49.8 percent of the population a minority followed closely by Brooklyn at 49.0 percent. On the other side, Manhattan has 33.5 percent non-white population and Staten Island’s is 20.1 percent, up from 17.9 percent in 2000. Overall, Queens has seen a population growth of a modest 1 percent since 2000, with an increase in the minority population during that time period of 3.2 percent. To learn more about population trends please visit the Census Bureau’s Web site at census.gov.