Hispanic population growing in the Bay area

The past decade has been one of tremendous growth for minorities in the Tampa Bay area, with Hispanics leading the way, recently released census estimates show.

The most recent estimates are as of July 1, 2009 and are the last before the 2010 census results roll out in the spring. The numbers show the populations of Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties became more diverse as they grew over the course of the last decade. While the region remains predominantly white, Hispanics and other minority groups have become a larger share of the population.

The "Hispanic" category is considered an ethnic description, not a racial one. Hispanic people trace their ancestry to Spain or Portugal or their former colonies around the world. So a region's Hispanic population can include people of every racial category, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Hispanics were part of the population explosion that turned bucolic Pasco County, long the bastion of retirees and ranchers, into a bedroom community for its larger neighbors to the south.

Overall, Pasco's minority population nearly tripled during the 2000s, showing the highest growth rate in the state. Despite that dramatic growth, minorities still make up less than 10 percent of the population in Pasco, which remains one of the whitest counties in Florida.

Hispanics grew by about 56 percent in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties during the 2000s. By decade's end, Hispanics accounted for nearly a quarter of Hillsborough's 1.1 million residents. They accounted for 7.4 percent of the population in Pinellas, 10.5 percent in Pasco and 16.3 percent in Polk.

Miami-Dade remains Florida's only county with a majority-Hispanic population, at 62 percent. Several counties are closing in on Miami-Dade's position, though. Rural Hendry County just south of Lake Okechobee, reported a population that was about 49 percent Hispanic last year, according to the Census Bureau.