Which race is decreasing in the United States?

Which race is decreasing in the United States? The non-Hispanic white population is the only major racial or ethnic group in the United States that has shrunk since 2010. It fell from about 196.8 million to 192.2 million between 2010 and 2024, a loss of 4.6 million people or 2.3%, while every other group grew. Its share of the country dropped from 63.7% to 57.4%.

Where the white population fell

Thirty-four states have fewer white residents than in 2010, along with 2,318 of the country's 3,131 counties, or 74%. The largest losses are in the biggest states of the Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast.

California lost 1.7 million white residents, more than the next two states combined. Connecticut had the steepest percentage decline at 11.9%. West Virginia, the whitest state in the country by share, lost 131,411, or 7.6%.

The white population grew in 16 states and the District of Columbia, led by Florida (+417,370) and Texas (+412,081). The fastest growth by percentage was in Utah at 14.1% and South Carolina at 10.6%, reflecting migration from the Northeast and West Coast to the South and Mountain West rather than natural increase.

Why the number is falling

The white population is the oldest of any major group, and deaths have outnumbered births among non-Hispanic whites nationally since around 2016, according to Census Bureau population estimates. Immigration adds comparatively few white residents, since most recent arrivals come from Latin America and Asia.

Another reason is a change in how people answer the race question on the census form. The 2020 census redesigned the write-in fields and coding for race, and the number of people reporting two or more races nearly quadrupled, from 9.0 million to 33.8 million. The "other and multiracial" row in the first table more than doubled from 8.7 million to 18.4 million, and part of that growth is people with white ancestry who now mark more than one box. Some of the white decline between 2010 and 2020 is reclassification rather than a change in who lives here.

Between 2020 and 2024 the white count was roughly flat, up about 500,000, which is consistent with the reclassification effect having happened in a single step at the 2020 count.

The Black population fell in 12 states

The Black population grew 5.9% nationally but declined in twelve states between 2010 and 2024, led by Illinois (-139,755), California (-123,709), New York (-122,086), and Michigan (-62,409). Those losses are mostly migration to the South. Texas gained 708,770 Black residents over the period, Georgia 451,470, and Florida 428,577. The national Black count was also essentially flat between 2020 and 2024.

No state lost Hispanic or Asian population over the period.

The other side of this question, which groups are growing and how fast, is covered in which race is increasing the most in the United States. The regional pattern is in the South at a demographic tipping point, and the cities where the white population remains largest are in US cities with the largest white population. State rankings are on the highest white share by state page.

Sources

Figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B03002 (Hispanic or Latino origin by race), comparing the 2006-2010, 2016-2020, and 2020-2024 vintages. White, Black, and Asian figures are for people reporting one race and not of Hispanic origin. "Other and multiracial" combines American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, some other race, and two or more races, all non-Hispanic. National totals are state sums and differ slightly from the bureau's published national figures. Changes in the 2020 race question are documented in the bureau's 2020 census race and ethnicity release.