Let's Start With the Stats...

Today I took some time to delve into the Hispanic Trends Project, which was launched in 2001 by the Pew Research Center to "to improve public understanding of the diverse Hispanic population in the United States and to chronicle Latinos’ growing impact on the nation."  The project is based around the annual National Survey of Latinos, documenting trends in opinion on social and public policy issues.  The project is also well known for its unauthorized immigrant population estimates.

Here is a brief summary of some of the most interesting statistics I came across (unless indicated otherwise, all statistics were compiled using data from the 2010 Census or the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey ):

Population:

• Today, Hispanics make up 17% of the total US population, up from 13% in 2000.
• The top five US states by Latino population  are: CA (14.4 million), TX (9.8 million), FL (4.4 million), NY (3.5 million), and IL  (2.1 million).
• Two-thirds of the total Hispanic population lives in those top five states.
• Nearly half live in CA and TX alone.
• The states with the fastest growing Latino population are: AL, SC, TN, KY, and SD.

Language:

• One-third of all respondents say they "don't speak English well."
• Of respondents ages 5 and older, 74% speak a language other than English at home and 56% of those report that they also "speak English well."
• 70% of of immigrant children ages 5-17 claim they "speak English well" compared to only 32% of immigrant adults.

Education:

• 63% of Hispanic adults ages 25 and older have a high school diploma equivalent or higher, up from 52% in 2000.
• 13%  ages 25 or older have a Bachelor's degree or higher and 33% of ages 18-24 were currently enrolled in a higher education program (up from 20% in 2000).

Income:

• The poverty rate for Latinos is 26%, compared to the total U.S. average of 16%.

Origin:

• The top five Latino groups by country of origin are: Mexican (64.6%), Puerto Rican (9.5%), Salvadoran (3.8%), Cuban (3.6%), and Dominican (2.9%).
• Those top five groups, along with Guatemalans, Colombians, Spaniards, Hondurans, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Argentineans make up 95% of the U.S. Hispanic population.
• 64% of Hispanics were born in the US, 36% were foreign-born.

Immigration:

• In 2012, there were an estimated 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants, up from an all time low of 11.3 million in 2009.
• Since 1990, the number of unauthorized immigrants has more than tripled.

Digital Divide:

• Overall, Hispanic rates of smartphone ownership, internet mobile access, and use of social networking sites are similar to or sometimes higher than rates of other groups of Americans.
• Between 2009 and 2012, the number of Latino adults going online increased from 64%-78%, compared to 80%-87% for Whites.
• 72% of Hispanics have a computer vs. 83% of Whites and 70% of African Americans.
• 76% use their smartphone to go online vs. 60% of Whites and 73% of African Americans.
• Latino internet users are half native born and half foreign born, whereas non-users are 21% native born  and 79% are foreign born.

There is a wealth of statistics on the site, along with some very helpful infographics.  Combined with local data from the U.S. Census site, these numbers and charts can act as valuable resources for librarians in terms of community assessment work and grant writing.