Jun 2, 2014
Accompanying the report Hispanic Nativity Shift released by the Pew Research Center, is a statistical portrait of the nation's Hispanic population and the nation's foreign-born population. Both are based on the Census Bureau's 2012 American Community Survey and feature detailed characteristics of each population at the national level, as well as state population totals.
Key findings from the statistical portrait of U.S. Hispanics include:
Marriage and living arrangements
- Between 2000 and 2012, the percentage of Hispanics ages 18 and older who have never married increased from 29% to 37%. Meanwhile, the percentage that is currently married has declined from 55% to 46%.
- The percentage of Hispanic-headed family households with five or more people has declined since 2000, falling from 31% to 26% in 2012.
Population by geography
- Between 2000 and 2012, the five states with the fastest-growing Hispanic populations were: Tennessee (up 163%), South Carolina (161%), Alabama (157%), Kentucky (135%) and South Dakota (132%).
- The five states where Hispanics make up the biggest share of the population in 2012 are: New Mexico (47%), California (38%), Texas (38%), Arizona (30%) and Nevada (27%).
- About 12.3 million Hispanics ages 5 and older (26%) speak English at home exclusively. That share is 39% among the U.S. born and 4% among the foreign born.
- Some 35.5 million Latinos ages 5 and older (74%) say they speak a language other than English at home, whether or not they also speak English at home. Among them, 35.3 million say the other language they speak is Spanish.
Spanish use at home and English proficiency
- Among Hispanics (ages 5 and older) who speak a language other than English at home, 56% report speaking English very well.
- One-third of all Hispanics (33%) say they do not speak English very well.
- Among immigrant Latinos, a language gap exists between children and adults. Some 70% of immigrant children between ages 5 and 17 say they speak only English or speak English very well. By comparison, just 32% of immigrant adults say they speak only English or speak English very well.
Homeownership
- Some 48% of native-born Latino households are owner-occupied. By comparison, 44% of immigrant Latino households are owner-occupied.
- Among Hispanic immigrant household heads, the homeownership rate is higher among those who have lived in the U.S. longer—59% for those who arrived before 1990, compared with 14% for those who arrived in 2006 or later.
Health insurance
- In 2012, about half of foreign-born Hispanics (49%) lacked health insurance, compared with 18% of native-born Hispanics. Among non-citizen immigrant Hispanics, 61% had no health insurance.
Source: Pew Research Center, “Hispanic Nativity Shift” by Jens Manuel Krogstad and Mark Hugo Lopez, April 29, 2014