The white population of the United States increased by 17.5 percent between 1950 and 1960, as compared with 26.7 percent for the nonwhite population, so that white persons constituted 88.6 percent of the total population in 1960 and 89.3 percent in 1950. Thus, the fairly large difference in decennial rates of growth produced a rather small change in percentage composition.

The rate of increase in the numbers of white and nonwhite persons during the 1950's differed considerably among the four census regions. Perhaps largely because of the continued heavy out-migration of Negroes from the South, the intercensal increase in the South was greater for white persons (18.0 percent) than it was for nonwhite persons (11.1 percent), and in each of the other three regions, the nonwhite population increased by over 50 percent. The increase in the white population ranged from 11.0 percent in the Northeastern States to 37.5 percent in the West. As a result of these regional variations in the growth rates of the white and nonwhite segments of the population, the proportion of the nonwhites residing in the South declined from 64.0 percent in 1950 to 56.1 percent in 1960.

The table shown here is a preprint of table 56 from Final Report PC(1)-1B, which contains additional summary information on the general characteristics of the population.

The PDF to the right contains the 10-page report.