Jackson Free Press

The influx of immigrants and people moving to the Sun Belt and Western mountain states from other parts of the USA is rearranging the ethnic tapestry of urban centers in an unprecedented way.

Blacks, Hispanics and Asians are going where the jobs are. They're driving population increases in the fastest-growing areas, including Las Vegas, Atlanta and Orlando, says demographer William Frey, author of the report on shifts in populations from 2000 to 2004.

The white population declined in 111 metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Aging whites are gravitating toward smaller communities such as St. George, Utah, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Frey says.

The white population still dominates exurbs and "spillover" communities outside large metropolitan centers but minorities also are moving to these areas.

"These minorities are now spilling to parts of the country - the interior Sun Belt, suburbs and exurbs - which were once bastions of middle-class whites," Frey says. "As a consequence, white-bread America is experiencing diversity firsthand, rather than in magazines or TV images. ... Politicians are going to have to figure out how to satisfy both groups."

The article goes on to say that more of the blacks returning to the South are avoiding Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and are choosing to go to states like Georgia and Florida. Gee, I wonder why...;-)