California’s Asian population grew by 25% in the past decade, making it the fastest growing ethnic group in the nation’s most populous state, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday.
California’s white population plummeted by 24% between 2010 and 2020, confirming California is one of three states — along with New Mexico and Hawaii — where whites are not the largest ethnic group.
Hispanics surpassed whites as California’s largest ethnic group in 2014. The Census data show California’s Hispanic population grew by 11% to 15.5 million people, making up just shy of 40% of the state’s nearly 40 million residents.
But it was the Asian population that had the biggest percentage gain over the past decade. California now has more than 6 million people of Asian descent — more than the total population of most other states.