According to the national census, the population of Cleveland was 505,616 in 1990, a decline of 11.9 percent from the 1980 population of 573,822. The decrease continued into the 1990s; the population was 495,817 in 1998. The decrease is attributed to a continuing flight to the suburbs, begun before 1970 and fueled by racial polarization and public school problems.
In 1990 whites were 49.6 percent of the population, blacks 46.5 percent, Asians and Pacific Islanders 1.0 percent, and Native Americans 0.3 percent. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report ethnicity. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 4.4 percent of the people. The city of Cleveland has long been stereotyped as a community of two halves: a black eastern half and a white western half. Although a gross over-simplification, this perception has been widely accepted and has governed many community attitudes and actions. In reality, the city of Cleveland and much of the larger metropolitan area consists of distinct ethnic neighborhoods or communities. In large part this is a heritage of the employment opportunities available to blacks from the southern United States, whites from the Appalachian hill country, and immigrants from eastern and southern Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
