King County gets more diverse, old and male

King County's population is getting more racially and ethnically diverse, older and more male, according to new Census estimates.

As of July 1, 2008, 30.6 percent of the county's residents were of a nonwhite race, multiracial or Hispanic (an ethnicity whose members can be of any race), the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. That follows a consistent trend of increases since 2000, when the minority share was 26.1 percent.

All county minority populations grew faster, as a percentage, than the minuscule increase in non-Hispanic whites. Hispanics were by far the fastest-growing group, with a population increase of 5.5 percent in just one year and 51.2 percent from 2000. Hispanics grew from 5.5 percent of the county's population in 2000 to 7.7 percent last July.

The trend was similar for all of Washington, with minorities growing from 20.6 percent of the population in 2000 to 24.5 percent last year, and nationwide, with an increase from 30.5 to 34.4 percent of the population.

The median age was 38.8 in King County, 37.2 in Washington and 36.8 nationwide last July, up from 34.9 in the county and 35.3 in the state and U.S. in 2000.

The male percentage last July was 50.1 percent in the county, 49.9 percent in the state and 49.3 percent nationwide. That's up an insignificant amount in each case from 2000, although the change did make males the (estimated) majority in the county.

Hawaii had the largest minority share last year, 75 percent of its population, followed by New Mexico and California at 58 percent and Texas at 53 percent. Starr, Maverick and Webb counties, all in Texas, had the highest percentage of minorities among counties, 98 percent, 97 percent and 95 percent, respectively.

The nation's "oldest" county was La Paz, Ariz., with 34 percent of its population age 65 or older in 2008. The population share 65 and older was 10.9 percent in King County, 12 percent statewide and 12.8 percent in the U.S. as a whole.

Chattahoochee, Ga., was the "youngest" county, with just 3 percent of its residents 65 or older.

Among states, the 65-and-up share ranged from 7 percent in Alaska to 17 percent in Florida. Median ages ranged from 28.7 in Utah to 42 in Maine.

Men were a majority in just 11 states, topping out at 52.1 percent in Alaska. Washington, D.C., was the most female state or equivalent, at 52.7 percent.