The Chronicles Of Grant County

2020 Census
Part Two

This map shows the location of a number of communities in Grant County. The four incorporated communities are circled in red. (The image was provided courtesy of the United States Geological Survey, 2021.)

In an earlier edition of The Chronicles Of Grant County, information from the 2020 Census was detailed for Grant County overall. In this edition, statistics are noted for each of the four individual incorporated communities within Grant County.

The populations of each of these incorporated communities decreased from 2010 to 2020, according to the information released recently by the U S Census Bureau for 2020. All statistics listed in this news column for 2020 are from the U S Census Bureau as of April 1, 2020; stats for 2010 are from the same source as of April 1, 2010.

The Town of Silver City saw its population decrease from 10,315 persons in 2010 to 9,704 residents in 2020; this was a decrease of 5.9% during the ten-year period. The population of the City of Bayard went from 2,328 persons in 2010 to 2,116 people in 2020; this was a decrease of 9.1% from 2010 to 2020.

The Village of Santa Clara saw its population go from 1,686 residents in 2010 to 1,637 people in 2020; this was a 2.9% decrease in the number of residents in this community. The number of people living in the Town of Hurley decreased from 1,297 persons in 2010 to 1,256 residents in 2020; this was a decrease of 3.2% in the population of this Town.

To put these statistics into perspective, the overall population of the U S increased 7.4% from 2010 to 2020, and the population of the State of New Mexico increased 2.8% during the same ten-year period.

Among the major racial classifications used by the U S Census Bureau, either half of the population or more than half of the persons living in these incorporated communities were White people in 2020. In Silver City, the percentage was 61.4% in 2020; 50.0% in Bayard, 53.4% in Santa Clara; and 54.4% in Hurley. The number of White people decreased from 2010 to 2020 in Silver City (29.2% decrease), in Bayard (40.9% decrease), in Santa Clara (34.1% decrease), and in Hurley (37.2% decrease).

The U S Census Bureau does not use "Hispanic" as a racial classification. Instead, the Federal government uses the wording "Hispanic or Latino" as an ethnicity. More than half of the population in each of these incorporated communities self-identified as Hispanic or Latino for their ethnicity in 2020. In Silver City, the percentage in 2020 was 50.3%; in Bayard, 80.8%; in Santa Clara, 77.8%; and in Hurley, 67.8%. The number of individuals self-identified as Hispanic or Latino decreased from 2010 to 2020 in Silver City (9.7% decrease), in Bayard (11.7% decrease), and in Santa Clara (5.6% decrease). There was a 3.1% increase in the number of people who self-identified as Hispanic or Latino living in Hurley in 2020 as compared to the stats for 2010.

These percentages are higher than the percentage of New Mexicans that were Hispanic or Latino in 2020: 47.7%. This represented an increase in this group of 6.0% statewide from 2010 to 2020. Throughout the U S, individuals that were Hispanic or Latino increased 23.0% during the same ten-year period. Individuals who were in this group represented 18.7% of the overall population – 62,080,044 persons – of the country.

The number of housing units increased in one of the incorporated communities in Grant County from 2010 to 2020, while the number of housing units decreased in the other three incorporated communities during the same time period. Silver City saw its number of housing units increase from 4,900 to 4,954 from 2010 to 2020. The number of housing units decreased during this ten-year period in Bayard (5.2% decrease), in Santa Clara (6.0% decrease), and in Hurley (2.5% decrease).

Do you have questions about communities in Grant County?

A street name? A building?

Your questions may be used in a future news column.

Contact Richard McDonough at chroniclesofgrantcounty@mail.com.

If your email does not go through, please contact editor@grantcountybeat.com.

© 2021 Richard McDonough