Five Georgia counties — Chatham, Douglas, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale — flipped from majority white communities to ones where no single racial or ethnic group is a majority between 2000 and 2013, a new report shows.
Based on census data, the Pew Research Center report says those five are among 78 counties that became majority-minority during that time frame. The center’s analysis includes only counties that had at least 10,000 residents in 2013.
Four of Georgia’s counties stand out for having four of the five biggest percentage-point swings in their share of white residents nationwide. Rockdale — located east of Atlanta — saw the biggest drop in Georgia at 34.9 percentage points. Henry followed at 30.3 percentage points; Douglas, 29.8 percentage points; and Gwinnett, 25.4 percentage points.
“This trend stems from a flat or declining number of whites in each of these four Georgia counties … combined with a large and growing black population and a smaller Hispanic population that is also increasing in number,” the report says.
“In recent years, many blacks have moved to the Atlanta area from Northern states as part of a return migration to the South. Nonetheless, in all but one of the four counties, the white population remains the largest single racial or ethnic group there.”
Encompassing Savannah, Chatham County saw a 4.2 percentage-point drop in its white population during the same time frame.
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