>Census shows big gains by Asian Americans, Latinos

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U.S. Census figures released Tuesday gave Asian Americans and Latinos plenty of reason to bask in their growing population clout in California – but for the Bay Area, the numbers foreshadowed what will surely be a lessening of political power.

The first detailed release of statewide numbers from the 2010 census showed that the Asian American population grew 31.5 percent from 2000, faster than any other ethnic group. The Latino population grew by 27.8 percent, the second-fastest.

The white population grew by a comparatively paltry 6.4 percent, and African Americans at an even slower 1.6 percent.

In raw numbers, the state still has more white people than any other racial type: 40.1 percent of the total, compared with 37.6 percent Latino and 12.8 percent Asian.

But what demographers found most telling was how the growth rates point to a markedly more diverse tomorrow for the state overall – and for San Francisco in particular.

“What you’re seeing is the future, a growth trend in the communities of color that we expect to continue,” said Michelle Romero, a redistricting fellow at the Greenlining Institute, a public policy group. “There is going to be some change.”

As significant as the ethnic shifts, she said, is the acceleration of population growth inland. This means that when the state Citizens Redistricting Commission redraws the boundaries for congressional and legislative districts, some power will shift away from the Bay Area and other areas near the coast.

San Joaquin, Kern, Riverside and Tulare, all inland areas, were the fastest-growing big counties in the state. The slowest-growing were San Francisco, Monterey, San Mateo and Los Angeles, all along the coast.

“Right now you can’t say which seats will be affected,” said Hans Johnson, director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California. “It all depends on how they draw the lines. But in general, you can’t just eliminate a district – you redraw it, and that means the lines will shift to the inland areas.”

In San Francisco, which grew by 3.7 percent to a population of 805,235 in the past decade, the big story was the growth in the Asian American and Latino population.

Asian numbers grew by 11 percent, while the white population shrank by 12.5 percent. The Latino population also grew by 11 percent.

The black population of San Francisco shrank by 22.6 percent, reflecting a flight to outlying areas and other states.

In pure population figures, San Francisco breaks down now like this: Whites number 337,451, or 42 percent; Asians 265,700, or 33 percent; Latinos 121,774, or 15.1 percent; and blacks 46,781, or 5.8 percent.

“This is a city of immigrants, and the Asian community is too large to be ignored,” said David Lee, executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee in San Francisco. “It’s becoming a political force in the city, and is now one of the most powerful voting blocs.”

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, the city’s first Chinese American mayor, said the population boom of Asian Americans living in the city’s southeastern neighborhoods signaled the demographic shift as much as anything.

“It’s well beyond Chinatown, Richmond, Sunset,” he said, “so it doesn’t surprise me. At the same time … I’m also worried about the out-migration of certain groups, and I need to pay attention to that as well.”

To counter the loss of African Americans, he said, the city needs to do more in the areas of jobs, housing and education.