North of the Border--Demographics of San Diego

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting the keynote address to kick off this year's annual meeting of the Western Regional Science Association, which was held here in San Diego. The incoming President is my friend and long-time colleague, Serge Rey, now at Arizona State University. There are lots of twists and turns to the changing demography of San Diego County, but an important part of the picture is the transition from a majority non-Hispanic white population to one in which no single group is the majority, although the Latino population is growing most quickly. This is most readily seen by the age structures in 2010 for the Hispanic and non-populations:

The bulge in the 20-29 age group is largely a results of the influx of college students and military personnel, but the baby boomers are predominantly non-Hispanic (mostly white), whereas a very large fraction of the younger generation is Hispanic. For its part, the age structure of the Hispanic population in San Diego is remarkably similar to that of Baja California, Mexico--San Diego's neighbor to the south: