Mexican Americans fastest growing, but poorest, Latino population

New Crisis, The, Mar/Apr 2001

A recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau says that Mexican Americans are the largest and fastest-growing segment of the U.S. Latino population. But they lag behind other Latino groups in earnings and education.

According to the report, Hispanics of Mexican origin account for 21.7 million, or 66 percent, of Latinos in the U.S. That number has grown by almost 4 million since 1996. Hispanics of Central and South American origin make up 14 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population; 9 percent is of Puerto Rican origin; 4 percent is of Cuban origin, and the remaining 6 percent is from other Hispanic countries. The total U.S. Hispanic population is 36 million, or 12 percent of the U.S. population.

According to the Census Bureau, among Hispanic family households, those with Mexican householders were the most likely to have five or more persons - 36 percent. Hispanic family households were larger than their non-Hispanic white counterparts: 31 percent consisted of five or more persons, compared with 12 percent for family households with non-Hispanic white householders.

The proportion of Hispanics who had attained at least a high school education ranged from 73 percent for Cubans and 72 percent for other Hispanics to 51 percent for Mexicans.