Census: Minorities go to the suburbs

The city of Seattle is no more or less diverse than it was in 2000 — even as its suburbs have seen increasingly more diversity, according to the American Community Survey released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Driven in part by lower housing costs, large numbers of immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America settled in cities across South King County.

Census data collected between 2005 and 2009 and released Tuesday show that whites make up just over half the population of cities such as Renton and Kent.

Seattle, however, is a different story.

About a third of its residents described their race as something other than white, including those who say they are Latino. (People of Latino or Hispanic origin can be of any race.)

That was about the same proportion of Seattle's population that checked a box other than non-Hispanic white in the 2000 Census.

King County demographer Candler Felt, while pointing out that he had not had time to analyze Tuesday's release, said the figures seem to support a trend that has existed in the county for some time.

"Since 2000, we think there has been considerable migration of Latinos, African Americans and Asians outside of Seattle to the suburbs of King County," he said. "The big change in racial makeup is outside the city of Seattle."

The flood of information released by the U.S. Census Bureau Tuesday — its largest ever — is an aggregate of survey data the bureau collected between 2005 and 2009 as part of its American Community Survey.

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com