California Census numbers show that Redwood City’s white population has decreased almost 9 percent while the Hispanic and Latino population has increased 7.6 percent. This increase in the Hispanic and Latino population trends higher than county and state numbers—3.5 percent and 5.3 percent. (See more detailed charts below)

The Asian population and multi-racial population increased 1.8 and 1.3 percent respectively, while the Black and African-American population remained about the same at 2.4 percent.

“I’m excited by the diversity Redwood City has,” said Vice Mayor Alicia Aguirre and Co-Chair of the Latino Leadership Council. “It makes a big different in how we address education, business and community events.”

Aguirre added that city staff and officials need to ensure that programs are inclusive of people of all backgrounds. She said the new data will spur examination of how best to communicate to residents, particularly what languages.

“It’s great to see a growing Asian population as well, since they tend to gravitate more towards San Francisco,” she added. 

But she noted the lack of clarity in the Census questions might not accurately reflect Redwood City's true population. In the race category, self-identifying Latino and Hispanic individuals had no box to check. Instead the Census had a separate category that labeled Hispanic or Latino as a “cultural designation.”

“Many of my students said, ‘Where do we fit in? What do we mark?’” said Aguirre, who is also a professor at Cañada College. “I thought the increase would be a little higher, given the diversity of our student population.”

The increase in the Hispanic population is reflected particularly in schools in the Redwood City School District, with Hispanics comprising 95 percent of the student body at Fair Oaks Elementary School and Garfield Elementary School, according to the 2009-2010 School Accountability Report Cards (SARCs).

“We clearly have a growing immigrant population, so we need to take a look at how we’re going to align the results to our city,” Aguirre said.

2010 Census Data:

Race, Hispanic or Latino (Cultural Designation), and 18 or Over

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census

2000 Census Data:

Race, Hispanic or Latino (Cultural Designation), and 18 or Over

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Census

State Numbers

According to Census Bureau figures released today, the state’s population rose 10 percent from April 2000 to April 2010. The Golden State grew from 33.8 million residents to 37.3 million resident during that decade, the census reported.

California appears to be moving toward the middle – at least when it comes to where they call home. Most of that growth appears to have come in the counties that span the middle of the state.

Riverside County had the biggest jump, increasing 41 percent from 2000 to 2010. The city of Beaumont in that county leaped 224 percent from 11,384 to 36,887 people.

Next was Placer County with a 40 percent jump. The city of Lincoln skyrocketed 282 percent from 11,205 to 42,819 people, largely due to the Thunder Valley casino that was constructed in 2004.

Other counties that grew more than 20 percent included Imperial, Kern, Madera, Merced and Tulare.

Los Angeles County’s population edged up 3 percent. San Francisco County’s population also rose 3 percent, while San Mateo County grew only 1.6 percent.

Overall, population growth for the nine-county Bay Area slowed to 5.4 percent, which puts the region at risk of losing a congressional seat. A new statewide redistricting commission is using 2010 Census figures to consider redrawing political boundaries. 

“It’s important to realize that we still belong to a bigger community,” Aguirre said. “Especially since we’re looking at regional services in a lot of areas. Redistricting is going to highly impact our community.”

The only counties that saw population decreases were three small regions in the Sierra Nevada. They were Alpine County (down 3 percent), Plumas County (down 4 percent) and Sierra County (down 9 percent).

Associate Regional Editor David Mills and Local Editor Martha Ross contributed to this story.