St. Louis region loses Black and White residents, gains Asians and Hispanics

Reported by Audacy

New population estimates released from the U.S. Census Bureau show significant growth in Asian and Latino populations in the 15 county St. Louis area. "This is what's going to happen probably over the next two decades as these populations continue to grow," says Ness Sandoval, Professor of Sociology and Demography, Saint Louis University, "they're going to be the two populations that will make up the majority of the growth."

Sandoval adds, the growth comes from international migration. "The data that's released shows that the international migration numbers are immigrants who come directly to St. Louis as their first stop. In September, we will get data that shows immigrants who are moving from other cities to St. Louis. And so we get a fair amount of immigrants from the East Coast who find the East Coast to be very expensive, places like New York and Washington, D.C. and Boston. And so those immigrant groups tend to move to St. Louis, but then we have immigrants also who are leaving. And so a lot of our immigrants are moving to Dallas, to Columbus, Ohio." Read more.