Racial and ethnic diversity enhances a community’s cultural and economic value. It can be confusing when looking at the race and ethnicity data for Pierce County, when taking into account that the US Census Bureau has classified Hispanic as an ethnicity and not a race. This means that a person of Hispanic origin can select any racial category, and choose Hispanic as their ethnicity.
In Pierce County, the Washington State Office of Financial Management estimates that since 2000, the percent change in the total population was over 16%. The number and percent of all racial categories has increased as a portion of the whole except White, which has fallen as a percentage of the whole:
% Change in Racial Composition in Pierce County 2000-2010 |
White |
Black |
AIAN |
API |
Two or More |
-2.85% |
0.64% |
0.16% |
1.48% |
0.57% |
- In 2010, it is estimated that the non-white population accounts for nearly 22% of the total population.
- The foreign born population of Pierce County has risen by approximately 14% since the 2000 Census from 56,525 to 67,299 according to the 2006-2008 (3-year Estimate) American Community Survey.
Shown below is a comparison between the racial composition of Pierce County and counties like ours in Washington.
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services use Snohomish County and Spokane County for comparison to Pierce County when evaluating data. The grouping DSHS uses for “Counties Like Us” is part of Urban B* – Pierce, Snohomish, and Spokane
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