Census

In 2008, the median household income in the United States plummeted 3.6% from the year before, and the percentage of people living in poverty soared to an 11-year high, recently released U.S. Census data reveal. Economists say the bleak news -- which they blame on the slew of layoffs that have accompanied the economic downturn -- is significant, if not entirely surprising. "The current recession has eliminated the gains that have been made in the last 10 years or so," said Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at UCLA.

Census-takers will soon fan out across Sudan's vast and famously inhospitable terrain in the first nationwide head count in 25 years. But the checklist of questions won't include two hot issues that lie at the heart of this nation's recent history of conflict: religion and ethnicity. The government, led by President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, has decided not to tally numbers for Muslims, Christians and other faiths, nor will it gather data about tribe or ethnic origin.

California's immigrants are more assimilated, with greater proportions reporting last year that they became U.S. citizens and the majority of Spanish speakers now saying they speak English very well, a sharp rise from 2000, according to U.S. census data released today. Data from the bureau's 2007 American Community Survey showed that California continued to diversify, with whites declining to 42.5% and Latinos, Asians and blacks increasing to 54.4% of the state's population.

Two weeks ago, downtown boosters and the LAPD were celebrating a milestone: The population of homeless people sleeping on downtown's streets had dropped to just 700 -- compared to more than 1,800 just six months earlier. The count came amid a major LAPD crackdown on crime in skid row and the continued gentrification of downtown neighborhoods with new luxury lofts as well as trendy bars and restaurants.

There are 4,508 homeless people living in Riverside County, county officials said Wednesday. The county Department of Public Social Service organized the federally mandated census, which was conducted Jan. 24 with the help of 200 volunteers. The survey identified 6% fewer homeless people than in 2005, when officials counted 4,785. The count included homeless individuals living in transitional housing and emergency shelters, as well as those who live on the streets.

Deepening the nation's diversity, the minority population of the United States reached 100.7 million in 2006, led by California as home to the largest numbers of the two fastest-growing racial groups, Latinos and Asians, the Census Bureau reported today. Minorities now account for one-third of the nation's 300 million U.S. residents, with the largest share of them -- 21% -- living in California. They now constitute 57% of the state's population, including 13.

Bienvenidos. Huan ying. Dobro pozhalovat. In California, "welcome" is more of an international affair than ever -- with nearly 43% of residents speaking a language other than English at home, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The trend was even more pronounced in Los Angeles, where more than 53% of residents speak another language at home.

The population of Louisiana fell by a quarter-million people after Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans in August 2005. The damage was so bad, some worried whether anyone would ever come back. New population estimates released today by the Census Bureau show that in the year ending July 1, the state saw a net increase of about 50,000 people, a 1.2% increase. Total population in the state is 4.3 million -- an improvement, but still a long way from the 4.

Immigrants have settled into a broad array of American communities over the last five years, bringing unprecedented ethnic diversity to the nation as a whole, new census data shows. The half-decade since 2000 has brought gradual and predictable ethnic changes to California, where of 35 million residents, a third are Latino, and where Asians outnumber African Americans more than 2 to 1. But changes in some parts of the nation have been dramatic.

Hold off on the community celebration. That popping noise coming out of Lakewood isn't from champagne bottles being joyfully opened to celebrate that the city is the fastest-growing place in Los Angeles County. It's the sound of the locals poking holes in a new federal census report that contends the bedroom community grew by a whopping 11% between 2000 and 2005. Or maybe Lakewood actually shrank by nearly 4%. Census officials can't decide.