The USA is developing a stark generation gap between aging white Baby Boomers and a young, growing minority population, according to U.S. Census data released today.

The minority population increased 2.3 percent to 104.6 million from mid-2007 to July 1, 2008, or just over one-third of the total population, the Census Bureau reported.

Hispanics had the highest growth rate – 3.2 percent – during the 12 months.

Although immigration has slowed, higher birth rates among Hispanics make them the fastest growing group. Births, rather than immigration, accounted for about two-thirds of the 1.47 million increase in the Hispanic population in 2008, according to Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute. In addition, Hispanics are younger, on average, than the overall population. Births among Hispanics outpaced deaths by nearly 10 to one.

Forty-seven percent of children under 5 are minorities, as are 43 percent of young people under age 20.

“It’s a cumulative effect of immigration,” says Jeffrey Passel of the Pew Hispanic Center. “We’ve built up a population of Hispanics, and increasingly they’re native born.”

As the median age among non-Hispanic whites increases – it’s 41.1 compared with 27.7 for Hispanics – so will the racial and ethnic generation gap, demographers say.

“A lot of these Boomers are going to be relying on this younger generation to take care of them in a lot of ways,” says Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau. “In another generation, this is going to be our workforce that is supporting Social Security.”

Orange County, Fla., home of Walt Disney World, is one of six U.S. counties where the population became majority-minority in 2008: more than half the population are in groups other than non-Hispanic whites.

That’s “not a surprise” to Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty, who says the county has always been “a snapshot of what America looks like.” Nearly 10 percent of the nation’s 3,142 counties have a minority population above 50 percent.

The demographic shift is most dramatic among “kids under 20,” Mather says. “They really are the groups that are driving these changes.”

Contributing: Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY

By Paul Overberg, Martha T. Moore

Americans are driving less despite falling gas prices, reflecting the deepening recession and signaling a shift in lifestyles and driving habits that could outlast the current turmoil.

Drivers logged 10.7 billion fewer miles in September than they did the same month a year earlier — a 4.4 percent decline, according to data issued Wednesday by the Federal Highway Administration.

The data reflect the effects of the worsening economy.

“With the unemployment rate going up, people are just not driving,” says Fred Milch, division planner for the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, in the South Atlantic region that saw the biggest year-to-year driving decline (5.7 percent). “They just don’t have the money to go on leisure trips and don’t have money to go shopping. … People get in the habit of not having to drive.”

Since the beginning of the year, the nation lost 1.2 million jobs — 284,000 in September alone and another 240,000 in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Gas prices peaked around $4 a gallon July 4 and had dropped 12 percent by the end of September. They have tumbled even more since, slipping under $2 a gallon in many states.

‘People are changing’

Unlike previous cycles, cheaper gas hasn’t inspired Americans to drive more. While some of their reluctance to return to their old ways may be due to the bad economy, some transportation experts say something bigger is happening.

“People are changing their driving habits,” says Jack Finn, senior vice president and national director of toll services for HNTB, a major consulting firm based in Kansas City. “They’re taking less trips, there’s less driving, more carpooling and part of that lifestyle change will continue.”

Tony Douglas is a good example. Douglas, 46, gave up driving the 26 miles from Gallatin, Tenn., to his office in Nashville in September, when gas prices were still high. He took a bus instead.

Driving cost him $8 to $10 a day while the bus was $6. Now that gas prices have dropped and the cost benefits are gone, he’s still on the bus.

“It’s much more relaxing,” Douglas says. “Reclining seats, TVs and it takes about an hour, too. I’m able to watch CNN in the morning.”

Plus his stay-at-home wife has a car she can use and it’s better for the environment, he says. Douglas is an environmental manager for a company that works with the military to build sustainable housing on bases. “Everybody got an economics lesson and a lot more people are going to have their eyes open as far as carpooling,” he says.

A deep decline

Toll traffic is an indication that something different is going on. When the economy sours, truck and other commercial traffic historically drops more than passenger traffic, Finn says.

This time, “passenger car (traffic) has dropped double the truck traffic in some cases,” he says. “A lot of these trends will last. Even if gas prices drop a little bit, people will remember that gas prices can jump up there.”

The decline in miles driven is the longest and deepest since the 1979 Iranian revolution, which sparked an oil price shock and lines at the pump that lasted well into the next year. This September marked the 11th consecutive month of declining driving.

“This tells me this isn’t just a phenomenon that quickly bounces back when fuel prices drop,” says Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. The federal Highway Trust Fund, which relies on gas and diesel taxes, collected $31 billion in fiscal 2008, $3 billion less than the previous year.

“Americans are becoming much more conscious about our energy use and the desire to reduce the environmental effect of burning fossil-based fuels,” Peters says.

She’s promoting private funding for roads and transit, including toll roads and fees charged drivers who use special lanes during peak traffic.

Mileage has dropped in 18 of the 37 months since Hurricane Katrina created the first of several recent gas price spikes. Some transportation planners say some of the declines reflect demographic shifts and subtle changes in the way people live.

The growth in the number of U.S. households has slowed to abut half the rate of recent years because of slower immigration, more people sharing homes to save money and 20-somethings living with their parents.

At the same time, urban lifestyles have gained popularity — either the city itself or suburban town centers that combine shops and homes in a pedestrian-friendly environment.

“They still have a car but they don’t need it to go shopping or social networking,” says Milch, who reviews large developments in the Orlando region. “This trend began well before gas prices skyrocketed.”

Are Americans’ driving habit changing for good?

“Absolutely,” he says.

By Paul Overberg, Haya El Nasser

The number of minorities in the United States is growing so briskly that non-Hispanic whites will lose their majority status in 2042, years before demographers had previously projected, according to Census data released today.

The population is surging on almost all fronts, the new figures show. There will be 400 million people in the U.S. in 31 years, up from fewer than 305 million now.

The swelling numbers will transform Americans’ standard of living from the environment to public schools, demographers and public policy experts say.

“It affects quality of life in very important ways,” says Mark Mather, who studies U.S. demographic trends for the Population Reference Bureau, a research group in Washington. “We’re already experiencing that in traffic congestion, in schools and in our crowded coastal areas.”

Dramatic growth in the numbers of legal and illegal immigrants, especially Hispanics, has propelled the increase. Annual immigration this year is about 1 million and is projected to double by 2050.

Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center, says the earlier projections were low because they underestimated immigration.

“We’ve measured a much higher immigration in the ’90s,” he says. “In this decade, those high levels continued.”

Census projections in 2000 forecast that minorities in the nation would become a majority in 2059, 17 years later than previously forecast. The latest figures show that in 2050, non-Hispanic whites will have fallen to 46 percent of the population.

The proportion of children under 18 who are minorities will be even higher: 62 percent, up from 44 percent today. Two in every five children will be Hispanic, and two in five will be non-Hispanic white.

Other projections:

• The Hispanic population will nearly triple, from 46.7 million to 132.8 million in 2050, which would increase its share of the population from 15 percent to 30 percent. Blacks will increase from 14 percent to 15 percent, Asians from 5 percent to 9 percent.

• In 2050, one in five U.S. residents will be at least 65. The group over 85 is expected to more than triple from 5.4 million to 19 million.

By Emily Bazar, Paul Overberg

Some drivers across the nation apparently are cutting their speed slightly to squeeze more mileage out of $4-a-gallon gasoline, according to a USA TODAY review of preliminary state traffic data for the first five months of 2008.

Average speeds along some stretches of interstate highways were down in Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin and unchanged on others, electronic monitoring showed.

Of 20 states providing data on speeding citations issued by state troopers, the number of tickets was down in 13 states – Arkansas, California, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington – and up in seven – Alabama, Connecticut, Idaho, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina and Ohio. The state agencies emphasized that the data are preliminary and apply only to roads patrolled by state police.

Transportation experts and some law enforcement professionals caution that it’s too soon to establish a link between gas prices and driving speeds.

“Even if state troopers find that people are slowing down, that doesn’t necessarily mean drivers are consciously driving slower to conserve on gas,” says Chandra Bhat, professor of transportation engineering at the University of Texas.

“It could be that gas prices are making people drive shorter distances, and when people travel shorter distances, speeds tend to be slower. Or it could be that people are downsizing to vehicles with less power, and less power means lower speeds. Or it could be that people are more wary and they don’t want to risk being ticketed,” Bhat says.

Says Lt. Scott Compton, spokesman for the Illinois State Police: “There has been no correlation between gas prices and citations.”

Driving 60 mph rather than 65 mph saves 20 cents a gallon, according to the Alliance to Save Energy. Evidence of drivers easing up on the gas is mostly anecdotal with some statistical underpinning:

• In North Dakota, troopers patrolling Interstate 94 have noticed drivers slowing down, says Capt. James Prochniak, regional commander of the North Dakota Highway Patrol. “Here in the rural heartland, people are slowing down to try and save gas,” he says.

• Washington state between 2006 and 2008 recorded a 1-mph drop in speeds on highways with 65- and 70-mph limits. There were no changes on highways posted at 60 mph.

• In Virginia, where the state monitors average speeds on 117 interstate segments, there were decreases between 2006 and 2008 on 67, increases on seven and no change on 43.

• In Wisconsin, average speeds on four-lane rural highways with 65-mph speed limits dropped 1-2 mph in April from April 2006. Troopers “report this is especially prevalent among the commercial motor vehicles, such as heavy trucks,” says Maj. Daniel Lonsdorf, director of the state patrol’s Bureau of Transportation Safety. “Many (troopers) have noticed a large decrease in very high speeds on these types of roads. They do not report similar reductions in average speeds of any noticeable significance on our rural two-lane roads.”

• In Tennessee in the 12 months ending in September, average speeds along urban interstates where the speed limit is 55 mph dropped from 69 mph to 66 mph, according to measurements along 323 miles. There were no shifts for highways with 70-mph limits.

An analysis of highways near the main airports in Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, however, showed no clear trend in average speeds at 9 p.m. in May compared with May 2007. The analysis was compiled by Traffic.com, which operates networks of traffic sensors for government and media clients.

Many commercial trucking companies, which already limit their drivers to 68 mph, are slowing them further, some to 60 mph, says Clayton Boyce, vice president of public affairs for the American Trucking Associations, which represents trucking companies.

It’s not just truckers, either. Toni Tucker, an operator with the Colorado Department of Transportation, says she started driving her 1997 Honda Civic more slowly this month to cut her fuel costs. “I’m saving a lot more,” she says. “Typically, I have to fill up two times a week as opposed to one now.”

Some police agencies, hit by budget cuts and high fuel costs, are patrolling less frequently, possibly producing fewer citations. “It would be a stretch to try to correlate the increase in gas prices with the decrease in speeding citations,” says Mike Browning, spokesman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Speeding still prevalent

Analysis from selected states on drivers’ speeds:

• Connecticut: State troopers are reminding drivers that they get better gas mileage by slowing down, says Lt. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police. “We know from experience that speed can be a major contributor to crashes and, in addition, slowing down will save them money and fuel,” he says.

• Idaho: Rick Ohnsman, spokesman for the state police, says the issue isn’t how many people are speeding but how hard officers are working to catch them. “There’s never a shortage of speeders to catch at any time,” Ohnsman says. “It’s more how frequently we go out and work it.”

• Kentucky: “Most troopers said the rise in gas prices did not affect the number of citations,” says Sherry Bray, spokeswoman for the Kentucky State Police.

• Michigan: “While it appears there may be some areas of the state where some drivers are driving more slowly, speeding remains prevalent,” says Shanon Akans, a spokeswoman for the Michigan State Police.

“For every driver who may slow down a little, there is still another driver who for whatever reason (late to a business meeting, etc.) still exceeds the speed limit.”

Also, she adds: “The number of citations issued has been declining for the last couple of years as our staffing has dropped considerably, making comparisons from year to year unwise.”

•- Rhode Island: The state has analyzed speeds on sections of seven major highways, including Interstate 95 from 2005 through 2008.

“While there are natural fluctuations in the speed from year to year, overall we would say that the speeds over those four years have remained fairly constant,” says Dana Nolfe, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. “The average speed data does not support a marked increase or a decrease in average running speeds on these freeways.”

• Vermont: Sgt. Tara Thomas of the Vermont State Police says troopers are still finding people speeding. “If speeding tickets are down, we like to think it’s because of our enforcement and not because of gas prices,” Thomas says.

• Virginia: “We don’t see a significant trend in reduced speed due to gas prices,” says Jeff Caldwell, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Corinne Geller, Virginia State Police spokeswoman, sees a slightly different picture. “Anecdotally, yes, Virginia State Police are seeing some reduction in motorists’ speeds,” Geller says.

Katharine Lackey, Gwen Purdom, Andrew Seaman of USA TODAY contributed to this report.

By Larry Copeland, Paul Overberg, Nicholas Persac

The average American motorist is driving substantially fewer miles for the first time since 1981 because of high gas prices and demographic shifts, a USA TODAY analysis of federal highway data shows.

The growth in miles driven has leveled off dramatically in the past 18 months after 25 years of steadily climbing, despite the addition of more than 1 million drivers to the nation’s streets and highways since 2005.

Miles driven in February declined 1.9 percent from February 2006 before rebounding slightly for a 0.3 percent year-over-year gain in March, data from the Federal Highway Administration show. That’s in sharp contrast to the average annual growth rate of 2.7 percent recorded from 1980 through 2005.

“You have demographic shifts, traffic congestion and increased gas prices,” said Ed McMahon, senior research fellow at the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit group that promotes innovative development. “For the first time in recent history, the rate of vehicle miles traveled is not increasing at the rate it was for 25 years. It’s having an effect and is changing in subtle ways the way people think about their driving.”

Factors contributing to the slowdown include:

● Soaring gas prices.

● Expanded public transportation.

● Slower growth of minority and women drivers and the aging of the population.

● Demographic shifts that de-emphasize the need to drive. Many Americans, particularly young, upwardly mobile singles, are moving downtown in revitalized cities.

Contributing: Theodore Kim of The Indianapolis Star

By Larry Copeland, Paul Overberg

The nation’s minority population has topped 100 million for the first time and makes up about a third of the U.S., a symbolic milestone that signals challenges.

There’s a sharp contrast between Hispanics’ predominantly young numbers and those of an aging white society, census figures published Thursday show.

The age gap is widening as every state charted Hispanic growth since 2000.

Hispanics remain the largest minority group, at 44.3 million, and accounted for almost half the nation’s growth of 2.9 million from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006.

The non-Hispanic white school-age population grew 4 percent since 2000, while the number of Hispanic school-age kids surged by 21 percent.

The number of non-Hispanic blacks grew 1.1 percent to 36.7 million from 2005 to 2006, and declined in three states and Washington, D.C.

The white population has shrunk in 16 states this decade, including California, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The nation added 2.5 million Asians since 2000, a 24.4 percent increase.

In all, immigration accounted for more than 40 percent of the nation’s growth since 2000.

By Paul Overberg, Haya El Nasser