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This report describes the Hispanic population in the United States in 2000, providing profile of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, such as geographic distribution, age, educational attainment, earnings, and poverty status. These characteristics are compared with those of the non-Hispanic White population, and because Hispanics are a heterogeneous group, variability within the Hispanic population is also discussed. (1) The findings are based on data collected by the Census Bureau in the March 2000 Current Population Survey (CPS). (2)
Hispanics reported that their origin was Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or some other Latino origin on the CPS questionnaire. (3) Hispanics may be of any race.
In 2000, 32.8 million Latinos resided in the United States, representing 12.0 percent of the total U.S.population. (4) As shown in Figure 1, among the Hispanic population, 66.1 percent were of Mexican origin, 14.5 percent were Central and South American, 9.0 percent were Puerto Rican, 4.0 percent were Cuban, and the remaining 6.4 percent were of other Hispanic origins.
Hispanics are more geographically concentrated than non-Hispanic Whites.
Hispanics were more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to reside in the West and less likely to live in the Northeast and the Midwest. (5) Figure 2 shows that the regional distribution of the Hispanic population in 2000 ranged from 44.7 percent in the West to 7.9 percent in the Midwest, while the distribution of non-Hispanic Whites ranged from 32.8 percent in the South to 19.8 percent in the West.
Latinos of Mexican origin were more likely to live in the West (56.8 percent )and South (32.6 percent), Puerto Ricans were most likely to live in the Northeast (63.9 percent), and Cubans were highly concentrated in the South (80.1 percent).Central and South Americans were concentrated in three of the four regions: the Northeast (32.3 percent), the South (34.6 percent), and the West (28.2 percent).
Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to live inside central cities of metropolitan areas.
Nearly half of all Hispanics lived in central city within a metropolitan area (46.4 percent) compared with slightly more than one-fifth of non-Hispanic Whites (21.2 percent). In 2000, 45.1 percent of Hispanics lived outside central cities but within a metropolitan area compared with 56.2 percent of non-Hispanic Whites. The percentage of Hispanics living in non-metropolitan areas (8.5 percent) was much smaller than the percentage of non-Hispanic Whites (22.5 percent). Among Latino groups, Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics were most likely to live in a central city within a metropolitan area (61.2 percent and 56.5 percent, respectively) while Cubans were most likely to live outside the central city within metropolitan area (76.0 percent). (6)
Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be less than 18 years old.
In 2000, 35.7 percent of Hispanics were less than 18 years of age, compared with 23.5 percent of non-Hispanic Whites. Relatively few Latinos were age 65 and older (5.3 percent)compared with non-Hispanic Whites (14.0 percent). In addition, a smaller proportion of Hispanics were 18 to 64 (59.0 percent)than of non-Hispanic Whites (62.4 percent, see Figure 3). Whereas 32.4 percent of the Hispanic population were ages 25 to 44, 29.5 percent of the non-Hispanic White population was within this age group. Among Hispanics, 14.5 percent were 45 to 64, while 24.0 percent of non-Hispanic Whites were of these ages (see Figure 4).
Among Latinos, the Mexican origin population had the highest proportion less than 18 (38.4 percent) compared with the Cuban origin population, who had the lowest proportion (19.2 percent). The proportion of elderly (those 65 and older) ranged from approximately 4.5 percent for both Mexicans and Central and South Americans to 21.0 percent for Cubans.
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