City staff gave a presentation to the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 9 about the demographic changes in the city’s census data between 2010 and 2020.
City staff told the council that the number of Long Beach residents who identify as Latino or Hispanic has grown since 2010. In the city overall, there was a 7.2% increase in the amount of residents who identify as Latino or Hispanic between 2010 and 2020.
City staff also said there has been a 144.7% increase in the amount of residents who identify themselves as “other,” and a 57.3% increase in those who identify as two or more races when they fill out the census sheet.
In previous years, residents could only identify themselves as a limited number of races on the paper census form. Now that the census is available online, residents could choose more options for race.
“My daughters are biracial,” Vice Mayor Rex Richardson said. “They’re African American. They’re also Latina. So when they grow up what box do they check? I don’t know. And so who knows what the census will look like in the future?”
According to the presentation by City staff, the Asian population of Long Beach increased by 1.8%. The population of those who identify as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander communities decreased by 19.9%.
According to City staff, the population of both white and Black Long Beach residents has decreased since 2010. The population of Black Long Beach residents counted by the census went down by 6.7% in the 10 year period. The number of white residents went down by 10.1%.
During public comment, local business owner Senay Kenfe brought up an article by the Washington Post that discusses two analyses that suggest Black Americans may have been significantly under-counted during the 2020 census. One of the reports covered by the Washington Post suggests that Black children could have been under-counted by as much as ten times the rate of their white peers.
He believes many of the undocumented community members in his neighborhood were not counted in the 2020 census.
According to the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), undocumented immigrants can be afraid to fill out the census because they worry the information they give can be used against them.
