This analysis of Census Bureau population data reveals shifting patterns in the distribution of racial and ethnic groups within and across U.S. metropolitan areas. Among the findings: Hispanic and Asian populations are spreading out from their traditional metropolitan centers, while the shift of blacks toward the South is accelerating. The fastest growing metro areas for each minority group in 2000-2004 are no longer unique, but closely parallel the fastest growing areas in the nation. Of the nation's 361 metropolitan areas, 111 registered declines in white population from 2000 to 2004, with the largest absolute losses occurring in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Minorities contributed the majority of population gains in the nation's fastest-growing metropolitan areas and central metropolitan counties from 2000 to 2004.