BOISE - Hispanics remain the largest minority group in Idaho, growing by more than 43 percent from 2000 to 2007, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
The census figures released Wednesday showed 147,426 people in Idaho claimed Hispanic heritage in 2007, compared to 102,901 in 2000.
The Census Bureau estimates Hispanics were nearly 10 percent of the state's population of 1.5 million in 2007, up from nearly 8 percent of a total population pegged at 1.3 million in 2000.
The Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs thinks that number might be understated. The state agency estimates at least 20,000 people of Hispanic heritage were not counted in the 2000 census, Executive Director Margie Gonzalez said.
The agency is working with the Census Bureau's regional office in Seattle to prepare for the next census in 2010. Ensuring a full count of Idaho minorities is critical to obtaining funding for programs that serve Hispanic and other minority populations, Gonzalez said.
"For those of us trying to bring in grants, trying to bring in money," she said, "it becomes a really big problem when you don't have the data."
Hispanics are now more than 15 percent of the U.S. population, or 45.5 million of the estimated 301 million people living in the United States, according to the Census Bureau.
While Hispanics are by far the largest minority group in Idaho, they are not the fastest growing.
The number of blacks living in Idaho has more than doubled since 2000, growing by 122 percent from 5,961 in 2000 to 13,239 in 2007.
Asians increased by 40 percent, from 17,541 to 12,522; Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders by 31 percent, from 1,485 in 2000 to 1,953; and American Indians and Alaska Natives by grew 17 percent, from 18,522 to 21,648.