BAYONNE — After seeing a decline in population every decade from 1930 to 1990, Bayonne’s official census numbers rose from the second decade in a row, from 61,842 in 2000 to 63,024 in 2010.
Although not all the figures have been released, the Census shows a significant increase in the Latino population in town from about 17 percent of the overall population to about 26 percent.
Joseph Ryan, spokesperson for the City of Bayonne, said immigration was likely the biggest reason for the overall increase in Bayonne’s population.
But he added that the numbers may be lower than the real population. The Census Bureau does an estimated count, as well as an actual head count, and most times the estimate exceeds the actual count. This time the actual head count exceeded the estimate.
“We actually did better in a head count than in the Census estimate,” Ryan said.