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U.S. Latino Country-of-Origin Counts for the US and top 30 metropolitan areas
The 2010 Decennial Census counted 50.5 million Latinos. Among them, 31.8 million, or 63 percent, are of Mexican origin. They are followed by Puerto Rican-origin Hispanics, who number 4.6 million, or 9.2 percent, of all U.S. Latinos. Next are Cubans at 1.8 million or 3.5 percent, Salvadorans at 1.6 million or 3.3 percent, Dominicans at 1.4 million or 2.8 percent, Guatemalans at one million or 2.1 percent and Colombians at 909,000 or 1.8 percent.
While the relative position of the nation's three largest Latino country-of-origin groups has remained unchanged since 2000, the next four groups grew faster during the decade. Salvadoran-origin population, the fourth largest Latino country-of-origin group grew by 152 percent since 2000. The Dominican population grew by 85 percent, the Guatemalan population by 180 percent and the Colombian population by 93 percent. Meanwhile, the Cuban and Puerto Rican populations grow more slowly----44 percent and 36 percent respectively. The Mexican-origin population grew by 54 percent.
Mexicans are the dominant Latino-origin group in major metropolitan areas in all regions of the country except the East. For example, among the Miami metropolitan area’s Latinos, half are Cuban. In the New York metropolitan area, Puerto Ricans are the largest group, followed by Dominicans. In the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Salvadorans are the largest group. But in other regions and other metropolitan areas spanning from Los Angeles to Chicago to San Antonio to Atlanta, Mexican-origin Latinos are by far the dominant group.
Country of origin is based on self-described family ancestry or place of birth in response to questions in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and on the 2010 Census form. It is not necessarily the same as place of birth, nor is it indicative of immigrant or citizenship status. For example, a U.S. citizen born in Los Angeles of Mexican immigrant parents or grandparents may (or may not) identify his or her country of origin as Mexico. Likewise, some immigrants born in Mexico may identify another country as their origin depending on the place of birth of their ancestors.
The data for this report are derived from the 2010 U.S. Census and from the 2009 American Community Survey. The 2010 Census provides population counts for Latino origin sub-groups. The 2009 American Community Survey provides detailed geographic, demographic and economic characteristics for each group.
Accompanying this report are profiles of the 10 largest Latino country-of-origin sub-groups, based on the 2009 American Community Survey. An interactive graphic analyzing country-of-origin data among the nation’s 30 metropolitan statistical areas with the largest Latino populations is also available. The 10 demographic profiles and the metropolitan area interactive graphic can be accessed at the Pew Hispanic Center’s website, www.pewhispanic.org.
The report, “U.S. Hispanic Country-of-Origin Counts for Nation, Top 30 Metropolitan Areas,” authored by Mark Hugo López, Associate Director, Pew Hispanic Center and Daniel Dockterman, Research Assistant, Pew Hispanic Center, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.
The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, is a nonpartisan, non-advocacy research organization based in Washington, D.C. and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
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