Boston had a majority-white population in 2008
A couple of weeks ago the United States Census Bureau released results from the 2008 American Community Survey. The survey results suggest that Boston had a majority-white population in 2008. Ad the tables below illustrate Boston’s population remains about half white, half non-white, as the case has been for several years.
White means white alone not Hispanic. Latino means Hispanic of any race. Black means black alone, not Hispanic, and Asian means Asian alone, not Hispanic. The “Pop. est.” row in the first table is the official estimate of the size of the city’s population, while the row Boston is the size of the population as indicated by the ACS.
| 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | |
| White | 311,474 | 305,481 | 288,664 |
| Latino | 99,208 | 103,753 | 85,685 |
| Black | 132,272 | 129,827 | 134,397 |
| Asian | 50,494 | 52,112 | 45,616 |
| Boston | 613,411 | 613,117 | 575,187 |
| Pop. est. | 609,023 | 608,352 | 595,698 |
| 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | |
| White | 50.8% | 49.8% | 50.2% |
| Latino | 16.2% | 16.9% | 14.9% |
| Black | 21.6% | 21.2% | 23.4% |
| Asian | 8.2% | 8.5% | 7.9% |
As you may recall there has substantial controversy surrounding the estimates of the size of the city’s population over the last few years.The city argues that the federal United States Census Bureau has consistently underestimated the population, and the Bureau has repeatedly revised the its estimates upwards. Next year’s population count will hopefully settle the matter, at least for 2-3 years.
The city’s argument is basically that the Bureau has grossly underestimated the number of college students and housing project residents.
