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Prince George’s County’s population grew by nearly 3 percent over the past five years, according to a trove of new data released this week from the U.S. Census Bureau. The data also shows the county has a growing Hispanic population and a quickly-shrinking population of white residents, too. The new data, from the 2019 edition of the annual American Community Survey, is the last and most-detailed set of demographic and economic information released by the agency before the new decennial Census numbers come out next year.
The new residents grew Prince George’s County’s estimated population to 908,670, up from an estimated 884,764 in 2014. At 2.7 percent that’s a faster growth rate than most other Maryland counties, which grew at an average rate of roughly 1.2 percent between 2014 and 2019. Among Maryland’s six counties with more than 250,000 residents in 2014, Prince George’s County had the third-fastest rate of population growth, exceeded only by Howard County, which added 19,586 residents between 2014 and 2019 for a growth rate of 6.5 percent, and Anne Arundel and Montgomery Counties, which each grew by 3.8 percent, Anne Arundel County adding 21,006 residents to grow to 571,275 residents, and Montgomery County adding 38,443 to grow to 1,043,530 residents.
Statewide, Maryland grew by 2.2 percent from 2014 to 2019, adding 131,072 residents in that time.
Income is also growing in Prince George’s County, with median household income expanding by 6.4 percent between 2014 and 2019, growing from $79,03 per year to $84,920 per year. Among Maryland counties, Prince George’s County ranked No. 6 for median household income growth and ranks No. 11 for median household income overall. Statewide, Maryland median household income grew by 5.9 percent between 2014 and 2019, rising from $80,085 to $84,805.
The data also shows how Prince George’s County’s demographics are changing. The most notable changes are the growth in residents identifying as “some other race” and the decline in the share of white residents – the biggest single demographic shift in the county over the past five years. Between 2014 and 2019, people identifying as only white declined from 21.4 percent of Prince George’s County’s population, or 189,339 residents, to 16.6 percent of the population, or 150,839 residents, a decline of roughly 38,500.
In that same time span, the share of residents who identify as “some other race” increased from 8.2 percent of the population, or 72,550 residents, to 13.2 percent of the population, or 119,944 residents. As The Atlantic noted in a 2016 article, “some other race” is the fastest growing Census demographic and is on the verge of becoming the second-largest racial group in the country. Census data shows growing populations of these residents in Census tracts near Chillum, Langley Park, Adelphi, East Riverdale, all areas that are heavily Hispanic.
Prince George’s County’s Hispanic population has also grown from 15.9 percent of the population, or 140,677 residents, to 18.4 percent of the population, or 167,195 residents, between 2014 and 2019. Meanwhile, the county’s majority African American share of the population shrank from 63.8 percent in 2014 to 62.7 percent in 2019. But because of population growth overall, the number of African Americans in the county increased from 564,479 to 569,763.