Honoring Hispanic Heritage

Hispanic American Quick Stats (from the U.S. Census Bureau)

• • The estimated Hispanic population of the United States (as of July 1, 2005) is 42.7 million, making people of Hispanic origin the nation’s largest ethnic or race minority at 14 percent of the nation’s total population. (This estimate does not include the 3.9 million residents of Puerto Rico.)

• • About one of every two people added to the nation’s population between July 1, 2004 and July 1, 2005 were Hispanic.

• • There was a 3.3 percent increase in the Hispanic population between July 1, 2004 and July 1, 2005, making Hispanics the fastest-growing minority group.

• • The projected Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2050 is 102.6 million. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 24 percent of the nation’s total population on that date.

• • The nation’s Hispanic population during the 1990 census was 22.4 million – just slightly over half the current total.

• • The percentage of Hispanic-origin people in households who are of Mexican background is 64 percent. Another approximately 10 percent are of Puerto Rican background, with about 3 percent each of Cuban, Salvadoran and Dominican origins. The remainder are of some other Central American, South American or other Hispanic or Latino origins.

• • Roughly half of the nation’s Dominicans live in New York City, with about half of the nation’s Cubans residing in Miami-Dade County, Fla.

• • Median age, in years, of the Hispanic population in 2005 was 27.2. This compares with 36.2 years for the population as a whole.

• • There were 107 Hispanic males in 2005 per every 100 Hispanic females. This was in sharp contrast to the overall population, which had 97 males per every 100 females.

• • Forty-nine percent of the Hispanic origin population lives in California or Texas. California is home to 12.4 million Hispanics, and Texas is home to 7.8 million.

• • Thirteen states have at least half a million Hispanic residents. These states are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington.

• • Forty-three percent of New Mexico’s population is Hispanic, the highest percentage of any state. Hispanics also make up more than one-third of the population in California and Texas, at 35 percent each.

• • The Hispanic population of Los Angeles County, Calif. is 4.6 million -the largest of any county in the nation.

• • California’s Hispanic population increased by 715,000 between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004, which led all states. Los Angeles County alone added 76,400, which led all the nation’s counties.

• • In 19 states, Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority group. – There were 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses in 2002.

• • The rate of growth of Hispanic-owned businesses between 1997 and 2002 tripled (31 percent) compared to the national average (10 percent) for all businesses.

• • Hispanic-owned businesses generated $222 billion in revenue in 2002, up 19 percent from 1997.

• • Forty-four percent of all Hispanic-owned firms were owned by people of Mexican origin.

• • There are 29,184 Hispanic-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or more.

• • Nearly 3 in 10 Hispanic-owned firms operated in construction and other services, such as personal services, and repair and maintenance. Retail and wholesale trade accounted for 36 percent of Hispanic-owned business revenue.

• • States with the fastest rates of growth for Hispanic-owned firms between 1997 and 2002 included New York (57 percent), Rhode Island and Georgia (56 percent each), and Nevada and South Carolina (48 percent each).

• • Counties with the highest number of Hispanic-owned firms were Los Angeles County, Calif. (188,472), Miami-Dade County, Fla. (163,188), Harris County, Texas (61,934), and Bronx County, N.Y. (38,325).

• • There are over 9.5 million Hispanic families who reside in the United States. Of these families, 63 percent include their children under 18 years old.

• • Sixty-seven percent of Hispanic families consist of a married couple.

• • Forty-four percent of Hispanic families consist of a married couple with children under the age of 18.

• • Sixty-five percent of Hispanic children live with two parents.

• • Twenty-two percent of the U.S. population under age 5 is Hispanic, as of July 1, 2005.

• • Thirty-one million U.S. household residents age 5 and older speak Spanish at home. Spanish speakers constitute a ratio of more than 1 in 10 U.S. household residents. Among all those who speak Spanish at home, more than one-half say they speak English “very well.”

• • Fifty-three percent of the U.S. foreign- born population is from Latin America. This amounts to 18.3 million people.

• • There are 10 million foreign-born U.S. residents who were born in Mexico, by far more than any other Latin American country or any other country in the world for that matter. Other countries of birth that contribute large numbers of Hispanics are El Salvador (937,000), Cuba (925,000), the Dominican Republic (688,000), Guatemala (590,000) and Colombia (500,000). (The difference between the estimates for El Salvador and Cuba is not statistically significant.)

• • Four states are home to about two of every three foreign-born persons born in Latin America. Those states are California, Florida, New York, and Texas.