Over the past decade in DeKalb County, the white and black populations grew at about the same rate — each demographic group saw a 9% increase between 2010 and 2018, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data.
The same can’t be said for DeKalb’s Asian and Latino populations.
As the county added about 64,000 residents since 2010 (about a 9% hike), its Hispanic and Latino population dropped by about 2,000 residents, or about 3%, according to the latest census demographic estimates. There were 67,046 Latino or Hispanic people in 2010, and 65,060 last year, the data shows.
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Meanwhile, it saw a 35.5% rise in its Asian population, from 36,677 in 2010 to 49,707 in 2018. That’s a hike of about 13,000, the largest percentage of any racial group.
Hispanic and Latino population counts can overlap with other demographic groups because they are considered ethnic identifiers, not a race; you can mark on Census forms that you are a race like white, black or Asian, and also denote that you are Hispanic or Latino.
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DeKalb’s percentage of non-white residents — about 69% — remains one of the highest among the metro Atlanta counties. It has hovered around 69% since 2010. The county’s black population grew by about 33,000 people since the start of the decade, easily the highest of all the demographic groups. There were 372,848 black people living in DeKalb in 2010, and 406,461 last year, the census estimated.
And the white population grew from 212,415 in 2010 to 231,555 in 2018, making up about 30% of the total population both years.
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Overall, the Census Bureau estimated there were 756,558 residents in DeKalb last year, a 9% increase from 692,471 in 2010. From 2017 to 2018 alone, more than 4,400 people were added to DeKalb’s population, a growth of about 0.5%.
— Newsroom Data Specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this report.
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