The U.S. Census released the first data set from the 2020 Census, which provided population information including race and ethnicity.   According to the 2020 Census, the Merrimack Valley region’s population grew by 10.9% between 2010 and 2020 compared to the state’s population growth of 7.4%.  As seen in the map, the City of Lawrence saw the greatest population increase at 16.8% and Newbury saw the slowest growth at .7%.  As a result of the population growth, the City of Lawrence – a relatively small community geographically at 6.93 square miles – also increased in density by 17%, so that it now has 12,863 people per square mile.

Minority populations increased in every community in the Merrimack Valley.  Overall, the Merrimack Valley saw a 50% increase in the minority population between 2010 and 2020.  While the majority-minority community of Lawrence saw only a 29%  increase over 2010 in its minority population, this does represent an additional 16,419 people.  All the Merrimack Valley’s smaller communities saw their minority populations more than double, but this represents a relatively small number of people.  The suburban communities and cities (except for Lawrence and Newburyport) all saw large increases in minority populations.

The overall ‘white only’ population in the Merrimack Valley dropped from 70% of the population in 2010 to 60% in 2020.  This is in line with trends for the entire country (61.6%), but lower than Massachusetts (69.6%).  Looking at a variety of sources, the debate over why there was such an increase in minority percentages revolves around two main themes:  (1) there was a drop in the number of ‘white only’ children between the ages of 1-18 and (2) the 2020 Census provided more opportunities for people to identify with more than one race.

MVPC will continue to report out information about the region as it becomes available.  In the meantime, for more information and to access interactive maps, MVPC recommends digging into the U.S Census’s Interactive maps and the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute Interactive maps.

For a larger version of the map above, click here.