Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Hispanics in the 2008 Election: Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s Hispanic population is the 14th largest in the nation. About 522,000 Hispanics reside in Pennsylvania, 1% of all Hispanics in the United States. There are 261,000 eligible Hispanic voters in Pennsylvania, about 1.5% of all U.S. Hispanic eligible voters.1 This fact sheet provides key demographic information on Latino eligible voters.2 It also contains data on other major groups of eligible voters in Pennsylvania, with comparative data for the U.S. All data are from the Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey.3

Hispanics in Pennsylvania’s Eligible Voter Population

  • Pennsylvania’s population is 4% Hispanic, ranking 33rd in the Hispanic population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 45%.
  • Almost 3% of eligible voters in Pennsylvania are Latinos, the 27th largest Hispanic eligible voter population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 38%.
  • Half of all Latinos in Pennsylvania are eligible to vote, ranking 11th nationwide in the share of the Hispanic population that is eligible to vote.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters

  • Pennsylvania’s Hispanic eligible voters are younger than all eligible voters in Pennsylvania—31% of Hispanic eligible voters in Pennsylvania are ages 18 to 29 versus 20% of all Pennsylvania eligible voters.

  • Latino eligible voters in Pennsylvania are more likely to be naturalized citizens than are all Pennsylvania eligible voters—12% versus 3%. However, they are less likely to be naturalized than are all Latino eligible voters nationwide (26%).
  • The proportion of Hispanic eligible voters in Pennsylvania who have attended college or earned at least a bachelor’s degree is less than the proportion of all Pennsylvania eligible voters who have that level of education—34% of Hispanics versus 48% of all eligible voters in Pennsylvania. Hispanic eligible voters in Pennsylvania also have a lower level of education than all Hispanic eligible voters nationwide, 41% of whom have attended college or earned a bachelor’s degree or more.
  • Latino eligible voters in Pennsylvania are less likely to live in an owner-occupied home than all eligible voters in Pennsylvania—51% versus 74%.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters in Pennsylvania, by Race and Ethnicity

  • Black eligible voters outnumber Latino eligible voters in Pennsylvania by a margin of more than 3 to 1—862,0blacks compared with 261,000 Latino eligible voters.
  • Hispanic eligible voters are younger than white or black eligible voters in Pennsylvania—31% of Hispanic eligible voters are ages 18 to 29 compared with 18% of white and 24% of black eligible voters.
  • Hispanic eligible voters are less likely than other groups of eligible voters to have attended college—34% versus 49% for white and 39% for black eligible voters.
  • Hispanic eligible voters (51%) and black eligible voters (52%) are less likely than white eligible voters (77%) in Pennsylvania to reside in owner-occupied homes.
  1. In this fact sheet, eligible voters are defined as U.S. citizens ages 18 and older. Eligible voters are not the same as registered voters. To cast a vote, in all states except North Dakota, an eligible voter must first register to vote.
  2. The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” are used interchangeably. References to “whites” and “blacks” are to the non-Hispanic components of those populations.
  3. The specific data set used to derive estimates contained in this fact sheet are from the University of Minnesota’s Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) for the 2006 American Community Survey (1% sample). Information can be found on the following Website: http://usa.ipums.org/usa/. The estimates in this fact sheet are subject to sampling error. Also, estimates in this fact sheet will differ from estimates that may be published by the Census Bureau because of differences between the data used by the Census Bureau and the data it has released for public use. Further information on Census data and on sampling error in the data is available at http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/2006/AccuracyPUMS.pdf.

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