ACS SURVEY FINDS (ABOUT) 23, 668 FREDERICK COUNTY RESIDENTS SPEAK A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH

The American Community Survey (ACS), a new tool of the Census Bureau, released 2006 data on September 12. Of the 23, 668 residents who speak another language, most consider themselves fluent in English. These speakers of other languages comprise about 11% of Frederick County’s population. Frederick County has 19, 437 foreign born immigrants. Most of the county’s foreign-born immigrants, or 13,633 people, arrived before 2000. 5,804 foreign-born immigrants have arrived since 2000. Buried in the survey data is the fact that Germany is the country from which the highest portion of our residents claim ancestry, followed by Ireland, England and Italy. About 11, 537 Frederick County residents consider themselves Hispanic, hailing from Central, South and North America. The 2006 population of Frederick County includes 7,842 Asians, 86 Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, 500 Native Indians and Alaskan Natives as well as 18,933 African- Americans and 192,028 whites. As Samuel Bennett, the Chair of Frederick’s Human Relations Council, was quoted in the Frederick News Post (FNP), “They reflect more of what we have become. It’s not just a black and white thing anymore.” (Source: Nancy Hernandez, (FNP), September 9 & 12, 2007) Frederick County’s increasing diversity is reflected in the many multi-cultural and ethnic festivals underway this fall. Nancy Hernandez, FNP Staff, does an excellent job reporting on these. . If you are interested in knowing what is coming up, she will most likely know: nhernandez@fredericknewspost.com. The American Community Survey fills in the gaps between census years. The survey is sent to a small percentage of our country’s population on a rotating basis and is used to determine how more than $300 billion per year is spent. The survey also includes data on income, earnings, poverty, housing and more. Visit: www.census.gov.acs.