Race, Ethnic and National Origin Population in Seattle

• About 32 percent of Seattleites are ethnic minorities, up from 26 percent in 1990.
• In King County, 27 percent are minorities, up from 17 percent.
• In Seattle, Hispanics are spread out and concentrated only in South Park, making up one-third of that community.
• Parts of Bellevue, Redmond, Kent, Bothell, Auburn, SeaTac and the Lake Youngs area in Maple Valley saw the largest growth in Asians and Pacific Islanders.
• Blacks are concentrated in the Central Area, Rainier Valley and South Seattle.
• Asians and Pacific Islanders, at 13 percent, make up Seattle's largest minority. In the International District and parts of Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill, they are at least half the population.

A changing Asian-American population

Two decades of large-scale immigration has significantly changed the makeup of the area's Asian-American population. Chinese are the dominant Asian ethnic group, overtaking Filipinos, who had the greatest numbers in 1990. The fastest growing groups were Asian Indians and Vietnamese, many of whom are recent immigrants. Only one in 10 Asians was Japanese in 2000, compared to one in six in 1990.

Footnotes:
* "Other Asian" includes those who marked either that category or more than one Asian category.
* Population totals do not include those who identified themselves as Asian and at least one other race.

Share of Asian population by ethnicity, King and Snohomish counties:
1990 and 2000 compared.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Analysis by Tom Boyer, Justin Mayo and Stuart Eskenazi - The Seattle Times staff.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/census2000/charts/asian_pop.html

ARTICLES

The 2000 Census: Minorities ride wave of shifting demographics
Changing ethnic makeup is the story behind one Seattle neighborhood's identity
Seattle Post-Intelligencer:  March 26, 2001

Diversity grows as King County sees more minorities
Seattle Post-Intelligencer:   August 9, 2007

A Demographic Overview of Seattle's Communities
June 12, 2006