The official Census 2000 Redistricting Summary Files (PL94-171) were released in March of this year. This redistricting file includes total population by race and Hispanic origin for state, counties, county subdivisions, places, census tracts, block groups, blocks, voting districts, school districts, and American Indian reservations.
The federal government considers race and Hispanic origin to be two separate and distinct concepts. For Census 2000, the question on race and Hispanic origin were asked of every individual living in the United States (based on self-identification).
The question on race for Census 2000 was different from the one for the 1990 census. Respondents were given the options of selecting one or more race categories to indicate their racial identities. It was the first time that respondents were able to choose multiple races in American censuses. Because of the change, the Census 2000 data on race are not directly comparable with data from the 1990 census or earlier censuses.
Respondents who reported only one race are shown in the following six categories:
Individuals who chose more than one of the six categories are included in the "Two or more races" population. There are 57 specific combinations of two or more races (15 combinations of two races; 20 combinations of three races; 15 combinations of four races; 6 combinations of five races; and 1 combination of 6 races). The redistricting file includes data for each of these 6 single and 57 multiple race categories.
According to Census 2000, there were 493,782 residents in Wyoming, and 6.4 percent were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). The remaining 462,113 people were not Hispanic. For racial breakdown, over 98 percent of people reported only one race. The largest group reported White alone, accounting for 92.1 percent of all Wyoming residents. The American Indian alone population represented 2.3 percent, while Some Other Race alone represented 2.5 percent of the total. Over 96 percent of respondents who reported Some Other Race are of Hispanic origin. Of the 8,883 people who reported two or more races, over 95 percent reported exactly two races. The most common combinations was "White and American Indian" (3,289) which was followed by "White and Some other race" (2,737).
Users can find the county and place level data, and customized maps at our Division's Website: <http://eadiv.state.wy.us/demog_data/pop2000/>. For detailed data, geographic products and files, please contact our office (ead@wyo.gov) or go to the U.S. Census Bureau's American FactFinder Website: <http://factfinder.census.gov/>.