Oklahoma sees 55% increase in Hispanic population by the numbers

TULSA — Oklahoma’s Hispanic population has grown by 55 percent since 2000, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the state.

The estimated increase is 100,000 people.

Hispanics account for nearly 8 percent of Oklahoma’s total population of 3,642,361, up from about 5.2 percent in 2000, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce said.

The Census Bureau estimated nearly half of the nation’s children younger than 5 are minorities, with 25 percent being Hispanic.

The nation’s overall minority population last July was 104.6 million, or 34 percent of the total population. Minorities are defined as any group other than single-race, non-Hispanic white.

Texas County in the Oklahoma Panhandle had the state’s largest proportion of Hispanic residents, 42 percent, according to state Commerce Department estimates. Harmon County in far southwestern Oklahoma had the second-highest at 25 percent, followed by Cimarron, Jackson and Tillman counties, the department estimated.

In one county, Adair, minorities made up the majority of residents. Of minorities, American Indians accounted for 42 percent of that county’s population total.

Other findings

• The Hispanic population was younger than the total population, with a median age of 27.7 years in 2008, compared with 36.8 for the total U.S.

• Thirty-four percent of the Hispanic population was under 18, compared with 24 percent of the overall population. Six percent of Hispanics were 65 or older, compared with 13 percent overall.

• The top 10 counties nationwide with a majority Hispanic population are in Texas.