U.S. Hispanic Population Growth, Dispersion Continues to Slow
The U.S. Hispanic population, while still growing at the fastest rate of any demographic group nationwide, has seen the rate of growth and dispersion throughout the country slow since the Great Recession, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.
The report (http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/09/08/latino-population-growth-and-dispersion-has-slowed-since-the-onset-of-the-great-recession/), authored by Renee Stepler and Mark Hugo Lopez, noted between 2007 and 2014, the U.S. Hispanic population grew annually on average by 2.8% (its pace of growth has been an even slower 2.4% between 2010 and 2014). This was down from a 4.4% growth rate between 2000 and 2007 and down from 5.8% annually in the 1990s.
As a result, the authors said, the Hispanic population, once the nation’s fastest growing, has now slipped behind Asians (whose population grew at an average annual rate of 3.4% from 2007 to 2014) in its growth rate.
The report noted the slowdown has been driven by two, large demographic trends affecting the Hispanic community. Immigration, which in the 1980s and 1990s was the principal driver of Hispanic population growth, began to slow in the mid-2000s. And, in the case of Mexico, immigration has now reversed back toward Mexico since 2009. As a result, the main driver of Hispanic population growth shifted to U.S. births. But here too, change is underway: Throughout much of the early 2000s birth rates of Hispanic women ages 15 to 44 were about 95 births per 1,000 women, reaching a peak of 98.3 in 2006. However, since the onset of the Great Recession, their birth rates have declined, steadily falling to 72.1 births per 1,000 Hispanic women ages 15 to 44 in 2014.
“The slowdown in Latino settlement to traditionally non-Latino areas reflects changes in the demographics of Latinos, but also that the counties with few Latinos today are generally smaller counties overall,” the report said. “The 1,562 counties with fewer than 1,000 Hispanics in 2014 are largely located in non-metropolitan areas of the country and have a median population of about 13,000 people. In the coming years, while some Latinos may move there, it is possible that the slowdown in dispersion will continue.”
Other key findings from the report:
–Despite slowing population growth, Latinos still accounted for more than half (54%) of the nation’s population growth between 2000 and 2014.
–Latinos account for more than half of the population growth in 41% of U.S. counties with at least 1,000 Latinos in 2014. One-third of these counties were located along the Southwest border and about half are in non-metropolitan areas.
–The nation’s Hispanic population is not growing everywhere. Between 2007 and 2014, the Hispanic population declined in 38 counties with at least 1,000 Hispanics in 2014, most of which were located in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
–Among the nation’s counties with at least 1,000 Latinos in 2014, 23 counties are majority foreign born among Latinos.
–States with the largest Hispanic populations are California (15 million), Texas (10.4 million), Florida (4.8 million), New York (3.7 million) and Illinois (2.2 million). Together, these states hold 65% of all Hispanics.
–New Mexico leads the states for the share of the state population that is Hispanic (48%), followed by California and Texas (39% each). Arizona and Nevada round out the top five states for the share of the population that is Hispanic with 31% and 28%, respectively.
–In most states, U.S.-born Hispanics outnumber foreign-born Hispanics. However, there are two exceptions: In the District of Columbia 53% of Hispanics were foreign born in 2014, and in Maryland half of Hispanics were foreign born. Most of the top 10 states ranked by the foreign-born share among Hispanics are located in the South.
–In 2014, more than half of U.S. Hispanics resided in the 15 largest metropolitan areas by Hispanic population. Los Angeles topped the list with 6 million Hispanics–more than the Hispanic population in all but two states, California and Texas.
