Box 7.1 The Latino Population in the United States, 2008
POPULATION
• With 47 million persons in the Latino population, it constitutes 15 percent of the U.S. population. Between 2007 and 2008, about 1.5 million Latinos were added to the population, resulting in a percentage increase of 3.2 and, thus, making Latinos the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States.
• Between 1990 and 2008, the Latino population in the United States increased from 22.4 million to 46.9 million.
• Sixty-four percent of the Latino population is comprised of Mexican-origin persons, 9 percent Puerto Rican, 3.5 percent Cuban, 3.1 percent Salvadoran, 2.7 percent Dominican, and 17.7 percent other Latino. Almost half of the Dominicans living in the United States reside in New York City, and about half of the Cuban population resides in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION
• Forty-eight percent of the Latino population lives in California or Texas; 13.5 million Latinos reside in California and 8.9 million reside in Texas. There are 16 states with at least a half-million Latino residents—Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. The state with the highest percentage of Latinos in its population is New Mexico (45 percent).
• Los Angeles County contains the largest number of Latinos (4.7 million) than any other county in the United States. Starr County (Texas) claims the greatest proportion of Latinos (97 percent) in its population of any other county in the United States. Forty-eight of the 3,142 counties in the United States are majority-Latino.
FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
• There are about 11 million Latino households in the United States; of these, 62 percent include children younger than 18.
• Latinos comprise 25 percent of children younger than 5, and 22 percent of children younger than 18 in the United States. The median age of the Latino population is 27.7 years, in contrast to 36.8 years for the U.S. population.
• The median income of Latino households is $38,679. The poverty rate among Latino households is 22 percent. Almost one-third of Latinos lack health insurance.
• Seventy-eight percent of Latinos 5 years and older speak Spanish at home.
EDUCATION
• Sixty-two percent of Latinos 25 years and older had at least a high school education, and 13 percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Almost four million Latinos 18 years and older have at least a bachelor’s degree. Latinos comprise 12 percent of the undergraduate and graduate student populations in the United States.

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