SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — State demographers say California’s Hispanic population will equal that of whites within six months and exceed it early next year — a milestone in the country’s racial and ethnic shifts.

Population projections released Thursday by the state Department of Finance show that Hispanics will become the dominant ethnic group in California for the first time.

By 2020, demographers say Hispanics will be about 41 percent of California’s population, with whites less than 37 percent.

The white population will fall to about 30 percent by 2060 from the current 39 percent, affecting politics and public policy in the nation’s most populous state. Whites currently lack a majority in only Hawaii and New Mexico.

The report says California’s population will hit 50 million in 2049.