Census Snapshot:
Hispanic Population

Research by Julia McCue

Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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	Source: US Census
	2000 population of Hispanics by county

	Census Snapshots
	Census Snapshots is an occasional feature of the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram that offers a look at the demographics of Maine as well as how the state's population compares to the people of other states. It combines data mapping techniques with staff research to provide insight into Maine.

Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the United State and have been growing rapidly in Maine as well. Using the raw census figures from 1990 and 2000, the percentage of Hispanics in the country grew by 57.9 percent. The number of Hispanics in Maine grew by 38 percent.

It's part of a long-standing trend. Maine's Hispanic population doubled in the 1970s. By 1980, Hispanics were the largest minority group in Maine.

However, the gap between Hispanics and the next-largest minority group, Asians/Pacific Islanders, narrowed in 1990 and evened out in 2000.

Now, Hispanics and Asians each comprise 0.7 percent of Maine's population.

The federal government considers Hispanics to be an ethnicity, not a race. Americans who identify their origin as Spanish, Latino or Hispanic may be of any race. National Concern, a Latino advocacy group in Maine, believes that the 2000 census undercounted by up to a third the number of Hispanics in the state. Complaints of an undercount in 1990 led to lawsuits, and 1990 census figures, generally of minorities, were adjusted upward both nationally and in Maine.

Maine counties	Hispanic Population	Percent Hispanic	Percent change 1990-2000
Androscoggin County	988	1	+27
Aroostook County	441	.6	-20
Cumberland County	2526	1	+62
Franklin County	159	.5	+45
Hancock County	336	.6	+26
Kennebec County	852	.7	+65
Knox County	225	.6	+58
Lincoln County	155	.5	+23
Oxford County	292	.5	+42
Penobscot County	882	.6	+26
Piscataquis County	89	.5	+29
Sagadahoc County	391	1.1	+16
Somerset County	234	.5	+36
Waldo County	215	.6	+26
Washington County	274	.8	+116
York County	1301	.7	+31

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