Demographics of Virginia

As of the 2010 United States Census, Virginia has a reported population {{nowrap|of 8,001,024}}, which is an increase {{nowrap|of 288,933}}, or 3.6%, from a previous estimate in 2007 and an increase {{nowrap|of 922,509}}, or 13.0%, since the year 2000. This includes an increase from net migration of {{nowrap|314,832 people}} into the Commonwealth from 2000 to 2007. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of {{nowrap|159,627 people}}, and migration within the country produced a net increase of {{nowrap|155,205 people}}.{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2009/tables/09s0015.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511102927/http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2009/tables/09s0015.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-05-11 |title=State Resident Population—Components of Change: 2000 to 2007 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |date=2011-03-25 |access-date=March 25, 2010 }} Also in 2009, 6.7% of Virginia's population were reported as under five years old, 23.4% under eighteen, and 12.1% were senior citizens-65+.{{cite web |url= http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-qr_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_DP5&-geo_id=04000US51&-ds_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false |title= Virginia - ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates: 2009 |work= United States Census Bureau |year= 2009 |access-date= 2011-03-25 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20200210224823/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-qr_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_DP5&-geo_id=04000US51&-ds_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false |archive-date= 2020-02-10 |url-status= dead }} The center of population of Virginia is located in Goochland County outside of Richmond.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011212170351/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2001 |title=Population and Population Centers by State |year=2000 |access-date=November 7, 2007 |format=TXT |publisher=United States Census Bureau }}

Note: Births in table don't add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.

• Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

==Race and ethnicity==

{{See also|African Americans in Virginia}}

The five largest reported ancestry groups in Virginia are: African American (19.6%), German (11.7%), American (11.4%), English (11.1%), and Irish (9.8%).{{cite web |url= http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US51&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_QTP13&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U |title= Virginia - QT-P13. Ancestry: 2000 |year= 2000 |work= United States Census Bureau |access-date= 2007-12-05 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20200210222049/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US51&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_QTP13&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U |archive-date= 2020-02-10 |url-status= dead }} Most of those claiming to be of "American" ancestry are actually of English descent, but have family that has been in the country for so long, in many cases since the early seventeenth century, that they choose to identify simply as "American".[https://books.google.com/books?id=SVoAXh-dNuYC&dq=Sharing+the+dream:+white+males+in+multicultural+America++english+ancestry&pg=PA57 Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America] By Dominic J. Pulera.Reynolds Farley, 'The New Census Question about Ancestry: What Did It Tell Us?', Demography, Vol. 28, No. 3 (August 1991), pp. 414, 421.Stanley Lieberson and Lawrence Santi, 'The Use of Nativity Data to Estimate Ethnic Characteristics and Patterns', Social Science Research, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1985), pp. 44-6.Stanley Lieberson and Mary C. Waters, 'Ethnic Groups in Flux: The Changing Ethnic Responses of American Whites', Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 487, No. 79 (September 1986), pp. 82–86.Mary C. Waters, Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), p. 36. Most of Virginia's Black population are descended from enslaved Africans who worked its tobacco, cotton, and hemp plantations. Initially, these slaves came from west central Africa, primarily Angola. During the eighteenth century, however, about half of them were derived from various ethnicities located in the Niger Delta region of modern-day Nigeria.{{cite book |first= Gwendolyn Midlo |last= Hall |authorlink=Gwendolyn Midlo Hall |title= Slavery and African Ethnicities in the Americas: Restoring the Links |location= Chapel Hill |publisher= University of North Carolina Press |year= 2005}} With continued immigration to Virginia of other European groups and the 19th-century sales of tens of thousands of enslaved Africans from Virginia to the Deep South, the percent of enslaved Africans fell from once being half of the total population. By 1860 slaves comprised 31% of the state's population of {{nowrap|1.6 million}}.{{cite web |url=http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/php/start.php?year=V1860 |title=Census Data for Year 1860 |work=Historical Census Browser |publisher=University of Virginia |access-date=2007-11-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808165743/http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/php/start.php?year=V1860 |archive-date=2007-08-08 }}

File:Bagpipeband.jpg band marches in a Memorial Day parade in Falls Church.|alt=A group of men in matching outfits including kilts marches down a treelined road.]]

In colonial Virginia the majority of free people of color were descended from marriages or relationships of white men (servants or free) and black women (slave, servant or free), reflecting the fluid relationships among working people. Many free black families were well-established and headed by landowners by the Revolution.{{cite web |url= http://www.freeafricanamericans.com |first= Paul |last= Heinegg |title= Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware |access-date= 2007-11-01 |date= August 15, 2007}} From 1782 to 1818, a wave of slaveholders inspired by the Revolutionary ideals of equality freed slaves, until the legislature made manumissions more difficult. Some African Americans freed were those whose fathers were white masters, while others were freed for service.{{cite web |url= http://www.usu.edu/history/faculty/nicholls/manumissions/index.htm |first= Michael |last= Nicholls |author2=Lenaye Howard |title= Notes of Manumission: Selected Virginia Counties, ca.1782-1818 |access-date= 2007-11-01 |date= May 15, 2007 |publisher= Utah State University}} By 1860 there were {{nowrap|58,042 free}} people of color (black or mulatto, as classified in the census) in Virginia. Over the decades, many had gathered in the cities of Richmond and Petersburg where there were more job opportunities. Others were landowners who had working farms, or found acceptance from neighbors in the frontier areas of Virginia.

The twentieth-century Great Migration of blacks from the rural South to the urban North reduced Virginia's black population to about 20%. Today, African-Americans are concentrated in the eastern and southern Tidewater and Piedmont regions where plantation agriculture was the most dominant.{{cite web|url=http://www3.ccps.virginia.edu/demographics/magazine/DW%20pages/5_RegionPagesDW/31_RegionRace.html |title=Regional Differences in Race & Ethnicity |work=University of Virginia |date=January 8, 2007 |access-date=2007-12-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901095206/http://www3.ccps.virginia.edu/demographics/magazine/DW%20pages/5_RegionPagesDW/31_RegionRace.html |archive-date=September 1, 2006 }} The western mountains were settled primarily by people of heavily Scots-Irish ancestry.{{cite web|url=http://www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?featureid=225 |title=Scots-Irish Sites in Virginia |work=Virginia Is For Lovers |date=January 3, 2008 |access-date=2008-02-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080211225319/http://www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?FeatureID=225 |archive-date=2008-02-11 }} There are also sizable numbers of people of German descent in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley.{{cite book |url= http://www.genealogical.com/products/From%20the%20Rhine%20to%20the%20Shenandoah%20Volume%20III/FH329.html |title= From the Rhine to the Shenandoah |edition= Volume III |first= Daniel W. |last= Bly |year= 2002 |publisher= Gateway Press, Inc. |location= Baltimore, Maryland |access-date= 2008-02-07 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061027114859/http://www.genealogical.com/products/From%20the%20Rhine%20to%20the%20Shenandoah%20Volume%20III/FH329.html |archive-date= 2006-10-27 |url-status= dead }}

File:Ethnic Origins in Virginia.png

Because of recent immigration in the late 20th century and early 21st century, there are rapidly growing populations from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, especially in Northern Virginia. Northern Virginia, which is a part of the DC metropolitan area, is one of the most diverse regions in the country.{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}} Virginia has one of the largest Salvadoran populations in the US, the vast majority of which is concentrated in Northern Virginia. Northern Virginia also has the largest Vietnamese population on the East Coast, with about 48,000 Vietnamese statewide as of 2007,{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-context=ip&-reg=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201:029;ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201PR:029;ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201T:029;ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201TPR:029&-qr_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201TPR&-tree_id=3307&-geo_id=04000US51|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090403074836/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm%3Dy%26%2Dcontext%3Dip%26%2Dreg%3DACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201%3A029%3BACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201PR%3A029%3BACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201T%3A029%3BACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201TPR%3A029%26%2Dqr_name%3DACS_2007_3YR_G00_S0201TPR%26%2Dtree_id%3D3307%26%2Dgeo_id%3D04000US51|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 3, 2009|title=Virginia - Selected Population Profile in the United States (Vietnamese alone)|year=2007|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=February 12, 2009}} their major wave of immigration followed the Vietnam War.{{cite journal|title=Vietnamese American Place Making in Northern Virginia|first=Joseph|last=Wood|journal=Geographical Review|volume=87|issue=1|date=January 1997|pages=58–72|doi=10.2307/215658|publisher=Geographical Review, Vol. 87, No. 1|jstor=215658}} The Hampton Roads area in southeastern Virginia, though it lags far behind Northern Virginia in diversity,{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}} is the second most populous in the state compared to other metro areas; aside from 'native' blacks and whites, Hampton Roads only has large populations of Filipinos, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans. The Hampton Roads area has the highest percentage of Puerto Ricans of any metropolitan area in the Southern US outside Florida, and also has a sizable Filipino population with about 45,000 in the area, many of whom have ties to the U.S. Navy.{{cite news|url=http://hamptonroads.com/2008/06/locals-celebrate-philippine-independence-day|title=Locals celebrate Philippine Independence Day|work=The Virginian-Pilot|date=June 12, 2008|first=Nora|last=Firestone|access-date=September 30, 2008}} As of 2005, 6.1% of Virginians are Hispanic and 5.2% are Asian. Virginia also continues to be home to eight Native American tribes recognized by the state, though all lack federal recognition status. Most Native American groups are located in the Tidewater region.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/22/AR2007112201416_pf.html|title=As Year's End Nears, Disappointment|first=Brigid|last=Schulte|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 23, 2007|access-date=June 25, 2008}}

Romani people are present in Virginia.{{cite journal|url=https://mds.marshall.edu/asa_conference/2017/accepted_proposals/354/|title=Appalachian Roma: The Handprint of the Gypsy|journal=ASA Annual Conference|date=13 July 2017|last1=Whitaker|first1=Tracy}}

The Piedmont region is known for its dialect's strong influence on Southern American English. While a more homogenized American English is found in urban areas, various accents are also used, including the Tidewater accent, the Old Virginia accent, Appalachian English, and the anachronistic Elizabethan of Tangier Island.{{cite web|url=http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/niceandcurious/manyvoices.htm |title=Virginia's Many Voices |first1=Edwin S. |last1=Clay III |first2=Patricia |last2=Bangs |publisher=Fairfax County, Virginia |date=May 9, 2005 |access-date=November 28, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830052030/http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/niceandcurious/manyvoices.htm |archive-date=August 30, 2008 }}{{cite news|url=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjU1OTc0Y2ViOWQ1MjJmMTA5NTQ1ODJlZTUyNzY3MmI |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712112137/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjU1OTc0Y2ViOWQ1MjJmMTA5NTQ1ODJlZTUyNzY3MmI |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 12, 2012 |title=Exotic Tangier |work=National Review |first=John J. |last=Miller |date=August 2, 2005 |access-date=October 9, 2008 }}

Spanish, French, German and Korean are also spoken in the state.{{cite web|url=https://www.coopercenter.org/research/language-diversity-virginia-speaks-volumes|title=Language diversity in Virginia speaks volumes | Cooper Center|date=3 August 2015}}

Native American tribes spoke dialects of Algic, Iroquoian or Siouan.{{cite web|url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/languages-and-interpreters-in-early-virginia-indian-society/|title=Languages and Interpreters in Early Virginia Indian Society}}

Image:Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Richmond.jpg is located in the Richmond's Fan district.]]

Virginia is predominantly Christian and Protestant; Baptists are the largest single group with 27% of the population as of 2008.{{cite web|title=American Religious Identification Survey|url=http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org|publisher=Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture|year=2008|access-date=April 21, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221145824/http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/|archive-date=February 21, 2020|url-status=dead}} Baptist denominational groups in Virginia include the Baptist General Association of Virginia, with about 1,400 member churches, which supports both the Southern Baptist Convention and the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia with more than 500 affiliated churches, which supports the Southern Baptist Convention.{{cite news|url=http://hamptonroads.com/node/180361|title=2nd Georgia church joins moderate Va. Baptist association|date=November 10, 2006|first=Steven G.|last=Vegh|work=The Virginian-Pilot|access-date=December 18, 2007}}{{cite news|url=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=26884 |title=SBCV passes 500 mark |date=November 20, 2007 |access-date=December 18, 2007 |publisher=Baptist Press |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219073703/http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=26884 |archive-date=February 19, 2011 }}

Roman Catholics are the second-largest religious group, and the group which grew the most in the 1990s.{{cite web|url=http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf|title=U.S. Religion Map and Religious Populations|publisher=The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life|date=September 11, 2008|access-date=September 29, 2008|ref=CITEREFprls}}{{cite web|url=http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/state/51_compare_Adherents.asp|title=State Membership Report (1990–2000 Change)|publisher=Association of Religion Data Archives|year=2000|access-date=September 29, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801024838/http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/state/51_compare_Adherents.asp|archive-date=August 1, 2013|url-status=dead}} The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington includes most of Northern Virginia's Catholic churches, while the Diocese of Richmond covers the rest. The Virginia Conference is the regional body of the United Methodist Church. The Virginia Synod is responsible for the congregations of the Lutheran Church. The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, Southern Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia support the various Episcopal churches. In November 2006, 15 conservative Episcopal churches voted to split from the Diocese of Virginia over its ordination of openly gay bishops and clergy; these churches continue to claim affiliation with the larger Anglican Communion through other bodies outside the United States. Though Virginia law allows parishioners to determine their church's affiliation, the diocese claims the secessionist churches' properties. The resulting property law case is a test for Episcopal churches nationwide.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/13/AR2007111302078.html|title=Trial Begins in Clash Over Va. Church Property|first=Michelle|last=Boorstein|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 14, 2007|access-date=November 19, 2007}}

Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians each composed 1–3% of the population as of 2001.{{cite web|publisher=American Religious Identification Survey |url=http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm |title=Key Findings |year=2001 |access-date=October 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070320221156/http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm |archive-date=March 20, 2007 }} Among other religions, adherents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints constitute 1.1% of the population, with 204 congregations in Virginia as of 2020.Making Virginia the state with the highest percentage of Mormons east of the Mississippi.{{Cite web |date=2020-11-09 |title=Mormon Population By State |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/mormon-population-by-state.html |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=WorldAtlas |language=en-US}}{{cite web|last=|first=|year=2020|title=Virginia - Statistics and Church Facts|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/state/virginia|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190628021358/https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/state/virginia |archive-date=2019-06-28 |access-date=|work=Newsroom of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints|publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}} Fairfax Station is home to the Ekoji Buddhist Temple, of the Jodo Shinshu school, the Sikh Foundation of Virginia a Sikh Gurdwara, and the Hindu Durga Temple. Chesapeake, Virginia is home to the Guru Nanak Foundation of Tidewater Sikh Gurdwara. While a small population in terms of the state overall, organized Jewish sites date to 1789 with Congregation Beth Ahabah.Olitzky, Kerry M.; Raphael, Marc Lee. The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook, Greenwood Press, June 30, 1996, p. 359. Muslims are a rapidly growing religious group throughout the state through immigration.{{cite news|url=http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/state_regional/article/muslims_visibility_in_region_growing/27575/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724062811/http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/state_regional/article/muslims_visibility_in_region_growing/27575/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 24, 2012 |title=Muslims' visibility in region growing |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |publisher=Charlottesville Daily Progress |first=Sarah |last=Alfaham |date=September 11, 2008 |access-date=May 2, 2009 }} Megachurches in the state include Thomas Road Baptist Church, Immanuel Bible Church, and McLean Bible Church.{{cite web|url=http://hirr.hartsem.edu/cgi-bin/mega/db.pl?db=default&uid=default&view_records=1&ID=*&sb=3&so=descend |title=Megachurch Search Results |publisher=Hartford Institute for Religion Research |year=2008 |access-date=November 7, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124023003/http://hirr.hartsem.edu/cgi-bin/mega/db.pl?db=default&uid=default&view_records=1&ID=*&sb=3&so=descend |archive-date=January 24, 2009 }}

File:Virginia population density 2020.png|Population density of Virginia by census tract in 2020.

File:Virginia-Density.svg|Virginia counties and cities by population density (population/ square mile) in 2015.

File:Virginia-Population.svg|Virginia counties and cities by population in 2010.

File:Virginia-Population change from 2000-2010.svg|Virginia counties and cities by population change from 2000 to 2010, in percentage.

File:Virginia- Largest cities.svg|Top 10 most populated cities in Virginia (2010).

• Virginia census statistical areas
• Native American tribes in Virginia

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite web |title=§ 1-511. English designated the official language of the Commonwealth |url=https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title1/chapter5/section1-511/ |website=law.lis.virginia.gov}}

{{Virginia}}

{{Demographics of US}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demographics Of Virginia}}

Virginia