We have a large Indian population, and we have a continuing growing Hispanic population. The 2001 Family Science Workshop earlier this month at Roosevelt School in New Brunswick drew a diverse group of parents and children. According to the 1990 census, the county was 8 percent black and 6.7 percent Asian or Pacific Islander. Hispanics, of any race, were 8.9 percent of the population. The racial and ethnic data released by the Census Bureau will do more than simply validate what anyone could guess by driving past the growing numbers of Indian restaurants and bodegas.
Many federal grants depend, at least in part, on the demographic information.
Another 75 seniors, many Hispanic, are on a waiting list to get into the program. A large share of that growth is probably from Middlesex County, Hughes said, noting that in 1990 the county had five of the 10 municipalities in the state with the most Asians. Jersey City had the most Asians with 26,000, followed by Edison with 12,166 and Piscataway with 6,546. Officials in Somerset County also are expecting the census to reveal a substantial increase in minority populations. With a good quality of life, a good economy and availability of high-tech jobs, people are choosing to move to Somerset County from urban areas like New York City and Newark, said Kenneth Wedeen, a senior planner for the county Planning Board.