Over the last decade, Morristown’s Latino community has grown from representing one-fourth of the town population to being more than one-third of the citizenry, according to data released this week from the 2010 U.S. Census.
Morristown, the county seat, now has 6,277 Latinos comprising 34 percent of the population, compared with 27 percent in 2000. The town’s black population fell from 3,066 to 2,572, dropping from 16.5 percent to 14 percent.
Across Morris County, the paper reports, Latinos account for 11.5 percent of the population, up from 7.7 percent a decade ago. Asians account for 9 percent, up from 6.2 percent. The category includes people with roots in India or the Middle East. African Americans comprise 3.1 percent of the county total, a modest increase from 2.7 percent in 2000. The percentage of non-Latino whites declined by 4 percent across Morris County over that period.
Hispanics now are New Jersey’s largest minority, with 1.5 million people. That’s nearly 18 percent of the total population, up from 13 percent in 2000, reports The Star-Ledger. African Americans account for 13.7 percent, or 1.2 million people. The Asian population increased to 8 percent, from 5 percent a decade ago.
In Morris County, the largest concentrations of Latino residents are in Dover, at 69.4 percent, and Victory Gardens, at 63 percent. Those percentages rank fifth and seventh, respectively, in New Jersey, according to the Ledger.
