2011.02.23
Roanoke’s Latin quarter
Well, that’s perhaps a misnomer. But there is one section of Roanoke that is nearly a quarter Latin.
As two recent stories in The Roanoke Times documented, Roanoke’s Hispanic population grew from from 1,405 in 2000 to 5,345 in 2010.
That’s a 280 percent increase.
But where was that growth?
The most dramatic growth in Hispanic population occurred in the section north of 10th Street between I-581 and Williamson Road. That census tract was home to 159 Hispanics in 2000, who made up 3.34 percent of its population. In 2010, nearly 1,100 Hispanics lived in that area.
It’s now nearly 23 percent Hispanic.
Adjacent areas to the south, to Orange Avenue, and east to Plantation Road, also grew significantly, from being home to 149 Hispanics 10 years ago, to more than 800. Those areas are about 9 percent Hispanic.
Another high concentration of Hispanics lies south of Orange Avenue, running east from I-581 to the city limit, an area that is nearly 12 percent Hispanic.
– Matt Chittum
