The O.C.: quintessential white suburbia is now majority minority

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Wednesday, September 29, 2004

The O.C.: quintessential white suburbia is now majority minority

By: RYAN PEARSON - Associated Press

GARDEN GROVE -- Minorities now make up a majority of residents in Orange County, California's quintessential swath of white suburbia, newly released census data show.

Two other suburban counties -- high-growth Riverside east of Los Angeles and wealthy San Mateo south of San Francisco -- also joined 17 other California counties that as of 2000 had reached majority-minority status.

Two opposite trends tipped the balance in Orange County, which lost white residents as the number of nonwhite residents increased, according to an Associated Press analysis of Census Bureau estimates released Thursday.

The same was true of San Mateo County, where the loss of white residents actually decreased the region's overall population to fewer than 700,000.

Statewide, 55 percent of California's 35.5 million residents were minorities, compared with 53 percent of 34 million residents in 2000.



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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/09/30/news/state/17_09_219_29_04.txt