Hispanic growth rate in Rock Hill region fuels population boom, new report finds

Within the Charlotte region’s fastest-growing county, the Hispanic population is growing at nearly triple the rate of Lancaster County as a whole. It’s a pattern that is also unfolding across the Charlotte and Rock Hill regions, a Charlotte Observer and The Herald analysis of new census estimates released Thursday show.

Lancaster County’s Hispanic population increased by 53.5% from 2020 to last year, according to the new U.S. Census Bureau data. That growth is fuel to the 18.3% countywide growth rate in that same span, while none of the other 11 Charlotte-region counties reached 14% growth.

But Lancaster County is hardly alone in Hispanic population growth for the Rock Hill region. York County saw a 35.2% increase in five years. That’s nearly four times the countywide growth rate of 8.1%.

Chester County’s total growth rate of 2.2% ranked next to last in the Charlotte region, but its Hispanic population grew 72.4%.

Hispanic residents still make up a small, but growing, portion of the Rock Hill region. They accounted for 8.6% of Lancaster County’s population last year, up from 6.6% in 2020. York County was 8.5% Hispanic last year, up from 6.8% five years earlier.

The Chester County figure jumped from 2.6% in 2020 to 4.3% last year.

Combined, the three-county Rock Hill region grew its Hispanic population by an estimated 10,822 people from 2020 to last year. That’s roughly the same number of people who live in York, the Charlotte metro region’s second-fastest growing city or town since 2020 behind only Fort Mill.

Hispanic growth in the Charlotte region

On the North Carolina side of the Charlotte region, Hispanic population growth rate also continued to outpace total population growth.

The region includes Mecklenburg County, as well as Cabarrus, Gaston, Union, Iredell, Lincoln and Anson counties.

The Hispanic population in Mecklenburg County grew by 29.6% between 2020 and last year, while the county overall grew by 10.5% during the same period. Over five years, the Hispanic population increased from 15.3% of the county’s total population to 17.9%.

More than 221,000 Hispanic residents live in Mecklenburg, totaling 53% of the Hispanic population in the region.

“Certainly immigration is important for the Hispanic population, but we’re now into second and third generation in the Hispanic population, so it’s not the full story,” said Mike Cline, North Carolina state demographer, in an interview. He said that natural growth through births contributed to increases.

Since the census data covers survey information through July 2025, it does not reflect impacts from U.S. Border Patrol agents in an operation dubbed “Charlotte’s Web” targeted immigrant communities in the city last November.

The Hispanic population grew most rapidly between 2023 and 2024, and then slowed by July 2025.

Hispanic growth replacing population across the Carolinas

Across the Carolinas, Hispanic population increases aren’t just adding to growing areas. They’re helping offset losses.

While Bamberg County shrunk by about 4%, its small Hispanic population more than doubled.

Anson County had North Carolina’s highest Hispanic growth rate at 85.3%, even as its total population dropped 2.1%. Other counties around the Carolinas that shrunk in overall population saw more Hispanic residents, including Union County, South Carolina, and Bertie County, North Carolina.

Only one county in the Carolinas, Hertford County in North Carolina, saw a decrease (36.7%) in its Hispanic population from 2020 to last year. Every other county increased by 8% or more.

In the South, the Hispanic population grew by 17.3% over five years, and the total population grew by 6.2%.

Charlotte Observer database reporter Caitlin McGlade contributed to this report