Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The poverty rate for Hispanics was 28.2% in 2010, higher than it was for blacks, non-Hispanic whites or Asians, and higher than the official poverty rate for Hispanics, 26.7%, reported by the Census Bureau.
The spread of poverty across the United States that began at the onset of the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and accelerated last year hit one fast-growing demographic group especially hard: Latino children.
Driven by a single-year surge of 24% in Hispanic enrollment, the number of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college in the United States hit an all-time high of 12.2 million in October 2010.
Median household wealth among Hispanics fell from $18,359 in 2005 to $6,235 in 2009—a 66% decline. This was larger than the decrease for black households (53%) and white households (16%), according to an analysis of newly-available Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project.
Births have surpassed immigration as the main driver of the dynamic growth in the nation’s Mexican-American population. From 2000 to 2010, the Mexican-American population grew by 7.2 million as a result of births and 4.2 million as a result of new immigrant arrivals.
The 2010 U.S. Census counted 3.7 million Hispanics living in Puerto Rico. This was down from 3.8 million in 2000. By contrast, in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, the population of Puerto Rican-origin Hispanics increased from 3.4 million in 2000 to 4.6 million in 2010, surpassing Puerto Rico’s Hispanic population.
Browse detailed demographic and economic profiles of Hispanics in the United States by their countries of origin.
An estimated 31.7 million Hispanics of Mexican origin resided in the United States in 2009, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
An estimated 4.4 million Hispanics of Puerto Rican origin resided in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia in 2009, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
An estimated 1.7 million Hispanics of Cuban origin resided in the United States in 2009, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
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About Pew Research Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
