SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — A surge in the number of Hispanic births and Asian immigration gave California the greatest growth in the nation and pushed whites out of the majority in the state for the first time, according to census figures released Thursday.
The growth brought new development and new problems as the state that defined sprawl continued to swallow up open space in its migration away from coastal cities and pricey suburbs.
With 33.9 million people, California is easily the most populous state. Nearly one of every eight Americans is a Californian and the state's booming economy, fueled in part by a huge labor force, is ranked sixth in the world.
The state's 13.8 percent growth rate ranked only 18th nationally, but California added 4.1 million people during the 1990s more than the individual populations of 26 other states.
Nearly one in three Hispanics in the United States live in the Golden State. Non-Hispanic whites slipped to 47 percent of the state's population.
Hispanics also make up 32 percent of California's population.
Unlike states where booming Hispanic populations were credited to immigration, state officials said it was due to surging birth rates.
Of 3.2 million new Hispanics, the state said more than 2 million were due to births outpacing deaths. And state figures released this month show that only 17 percent of Hispanic growth was due to immigration.
California: The state added 4.1 million residents during the last decade more than the populations of 26 other states and whites for the first time are no longer the majority.
Hispanics now make up one-third of California's population. Unlike states where immigration was credited for a rise in population, birth rates were cited for the increase here. The number of non-Hispanic whites slipped to 47 percent of the state's population. Overall, the state grew 13.8 percent during the 1990s to 33,871,648 residents last year.
Maine: Communities along the state's rocky coast added residents during the 1990s while northern, more rural areas kept shrinking. Maine remains one of the least racially diverse states, with 96.9 percent identifying themselves as white. Only four states had lower growth rates over the last decade than Maine, which grew by 3.8 percent 1,274,923 people last year.
Rhode Island: Residents who said they were racial minorities grew by nearly 40,000 to 128,877 people more than 12 percent of the population and the number of Hispanics nearly doubled. Overall, the state grew by 4.5 percent since 1990 to 1,048,319 last year. Rhode Island ranks 43rd in population but trails only New Jersey in density with about 1,003 residents per square mile.
In the agricultural Central Valley, where Hispanics account for more than 40 percent of the population in some counties, the high birth rate is one of the leading causes of growth, said Carol Whiteside, president of the Great Valley Center, a public policy group.
"It's a very fertile place and it's not all peaches and almonds," said Whiteside, the former mayor of Modesto.
The increase in the Asian population was due mostly to immigration, according to the state.
Asians now comprise about 11 percent of the state's population.
The black population remained steady at 7 percent of the total population.
Lured by the promise of affordable homes, bigger lots and open space, more Californians moved into arid, inland agricultural valleys where houses are increasingly replacing crops.
In Northern California, people from the San Francisco Bay area pushed into the Central Valley, benefiting from home prices that dropped about $4,000 for every mile traveled east of the Bay area.
To the south, residents of San Diego and Orange County moved to Riverside County a vast land of rolling hills, farmland and desert which grew by 32 percent.
The quest for cheaper housing has come with a price.
Residents of these so-called "exurbs," beyond the suburbs, have traded congestion and higher housing prices for commutes that keep them in the car as much as four hours a day.
George Nava, 48, moved to Temecula from Los Angeles County five years ago to "get away from all the housing."
He bought a home in a new neighborhood for his family of five, but when he couldn't endure the additional driving as a telecom technician, his dream crumbled.
"The stress of driving is just tremendous," said Nava, who quit his job, lost his house and is now renting a place in nearby Murrietta, where he works occasionally as a temp.
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