Census Bureau U S

Latino and Asian growth in the Inland Empire and other outlying areas is slowing while such traditional gateways as Los Angeles are experiencing a "mini-rebound" in their minority population, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data. Los Angeles County, for instance, saw a net gain of nearly 70,000 Latinos last year, a 1.5% increase in that population after two years of near-flat growth. In contrast, the Latino growth rate in Riverside County dropped by nearly half to 3.

The Census Bureau turned over confidential information, including names and addresses, to help the U.S. government identify individual Japanese Americans during World War II, according to government documents released by two scholars Friday. The documents validate long-held suspicions among Japanese Americans that information about them collected under confidentiality pledges was released to the government.

Seven California communities made this year's ranking of the 25 fastest-growing big cities in the country, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Lancaster ranked 10th in the country, with a population of nearly 141,000 -- up 5% over the previous year. "We're really the last area in L.A. County that has space to grow," said Steve Malicott, president and chief executive of the Antelope Valley Chambers of Commerce. "We have room and a lot of it."

The U.S. Census Bureau's plan to stop producing special demographic reports on the San Fernando Valley would hurt local efforts to generate social and economic improvements, several Los Angeles officials said Monday. The officials said census statistics focused on the Valley and its more than 1.7 million residents help show how the region is distinct from the rest of the city and county. The statistics also help representatives pursue federal and state funds for the area, they said.

Size really does matter. For the second year in a row, Flagler County, Fla., has claimed the crown as the fastest-growing county in the United States, according to estimates released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau. Its population grew at a blistering clip of 10.7%, leaving in its dust the entire Golden State, whose fastest-growing county (Tuolumne) lumbered in at No. 60 on the list of the 100 fastest growers.

The Inland Empire, fed by migrants from coastal California, is the fastest-growing urban area in the United States, according to a survey released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Since 2000, there has also been a significant outflow of people from places long associated with the ideal of California living -- Los Angeles and the Bay Area -- to more affordable regions such as the Inland Empire.

Latino population growth accounted for nearly half of the nation's population increase of 2.8 million from July 2004 to July 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released today. The numbers reaffirm Latinos as the country's largest minority group, at 42.7 million, and as the fastest-growing segment of the population, with a 3.3% growth rate. The Census Bureau data show that Latino population growth is driven more by births than by immigration. The new figures put the total U.S.

In the four months following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the population of the New Orleans metropolitan area became substantially whiter, older and less poor, and it shrank to less than half its size, according to statistics released today by the Census Bureau. The figures were drawn from estimates of the hurricane-affected areas along the Gulf Coast as of Jan. 1, and cover 117 counties initially designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for individual or public assistance.

A California community heads the list of America's fastest-growing big cities for the first time in recent memory, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. And, surprise -- it's not in the Inland Empire.

The Census Bureau's annual snapshot of economic health in America offered a yellow warning light for the middle class, as an unchanged poverty level and a widening erosion of health insurance coverage tarnished news that household income was finally beginning to rise. Household income rose from 2004 to 2005 for the first time since 1999, the agency said in its report, released Tuesday. But even that news contained a mixed message.