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The Providence Plan Releases Census 2010 Information and Maps
The Providence Plan Releases Census 2010 Information and Maps by Providence Neighborhood and City Ward at www.provplan.org.
April 5, 2011
Providence, Rhode Island– The Providence Plan has posted the first round of Providence neighborhood-level and city ward maps for the 2010 Census. The interactive maps are available at www.provplan.org.
“We are pleased to be able to provide detailed information about Providence’s 25 neighborhoods and the City’s 15 wards,” said Patrick McGuigan, The Providence Plan’s Executive Director. “The online neighborhood profiles that we launched back in 2001 have made a tremendous impact in framing policy decisions over the past decade, and we look forward to extending our partnership with the City in the coming years to promote more data-driven decision making.”
According to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the City of Providence grew by more than 4,400 people over the past decade – increasing from 173,618 to 178,042. The recent Census release represents the first installment of data with additional information on income, employment, and household composition to come later this year.
The 2010 Census confirms that Providence is growing, and is becoming a younger, more diverse city,” said Mayor Angel Taveras. “I thank The Providence Plan for its valuable work to help us understand the demographic trends shaping Providence’s future. The data will inform my administration’s efforts to create a city government that is efficient, responsive and best able to serve the citizens of Providence.”
The initial maps and related analysis developed by The Providence Plan reveals interesting trends about Providence’s growth over the past 10 years in terms of demographic information, distribution of people throughout the city, and the number of housing units available.
In terms of changing demographics, The Providence Plan’s analysis shows that the City’s 2.5% growth over the past decade was primarily driven by an increase in the number of people who identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino. According to Census 2010 data, there are now 67,835 Hispanic people in Providence – an increase of 15,689 since 2000 (30%).
Another trend that has continued to hold over the past few decades has been the reduction in non-Hispanic Whites. Citywide, the non-Hispanic White population dropped from 79,451 to 66,910 – a 16% reduction from 2000 and a 40% reduction from 1990.
With these changes, Hispanics now make up the largest cohort of residents in Providence. And this trend is likely to continue given that there are 3.43 Hispanic children under 18 in Providence for every one non-Hispanic White child.
The City’s other two largest racial cohorts, Non-Hispanic Blacks and Non-Hispanic Asians also saw growth rates that exceeded the citywide average. The number of Blacks in Providence increased 1,296 to 23,299, while the number of Asians increased 857 to 11,241.
There were some interesting changes within Providence’s neighborhood. The Downtown neighborhood stands out among others for having the largest population growth rate (65%) – driven primarily by the construction of several high-rise condominium units as well as universities creating more college dorm rooms in the downtown area.
The Silver Lake neighborhood also continues to see rapid growth. In 2000, the Silver Lake neighborhood was the fifth largest by population. Ten years later, the neighborhood is now the second largest having passed Elmwood, Elmhurst, and Wanskuck.
The Silver Lake neighborhood also has the highest density of Latinos. In Silver Lake, 67% of neighborhood residents identify themselves as Latino – a substantial increase from the 42% in 2000 and 7% in 1990.
Census data also help to provide some context on the challenges that exist with the City’s housing sector. While the number of housing units in the city increased by 3,615 ‑ bringing the total units to 71,530 citywide‑ the percentage of housing vacancies between 2000 and 2010 increased by 3,286 or 59%. The West End neighborhood led all neighborhoods with 995 housing vacancies – a 95% increase from 2000.
Within the city, four wards (Ward 4, Ward 6, Ward 7, and Ward 15) saw growth rates that were more than double the overall growth rate within the city. Ward 6 and 7 showed the strongest growth over the past 10 years – with population increasing 18.1% and 11.9% respectively. Conversely, Ward 5 had the steepest decline in population at 7.9%. Census 2010 data will be used for redistricting at the City and State level – a process that will begin later this year.
In addition to providing neighborhood and ward level information, The Providence Plan will soon launch its Rhode Island Community Profiles portal, which will enable users to see census and other types of housing, health, and economic data for all of the state’s 39 municipalities. Updates will be posted to www.provplan.org, on Facebook (facebook.com/provplan), and Twitter www.twitter.com/provplan
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