Racial Diversity Grows in Suburbs WASHINGTON (AP) - America's suburbs have become more racially and ethnically diverse as minorities follow well-worn paths out of the big cities for jobs, schools and affordable housing. In 2000, one out of four suburban residents was a minority, up from about one in five 10 years earlier. Altogether, 140.6 million people, or about half of the nation's population, lived in the suburbs in 2000. Suburban population was up about 22 percent from 1990. The increasing …showed first 75 words of 590 total…

…showed last 75 words of 590 total…of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group. Any national comparisons of all metro areas did not account for boundary changes. That would require national-level data, which was not made immediately available by the Census Bureau. Additionally, direct comparisons by race between 1990 and 2000 were impossible because of a new census option on last year's form that allowed Americans to identify with more than one race. Hispanic is considered an ethnicity and can apply to any race