While the Latino population of the United States is some-sshat more disrsed than it was ten years ago, it remains concentrated in a few states [see Table 11, and a few metropolitan areas. The Latino population reached 2 million in the 1990 Census count, an crease of 7.7 million, or 53%, ocr thel9SO count [see Table 21. The impact of’ iizanigration on the growth of the population is evidenced by the Census estimate that over 40% of Latinos, or more than 9 million persons, were born outside the United States. Latinos also remain more likely to live in poverty than non-Latinos Isee Table 31. The Latino population differs substantially from the non- Latino population in its basic age-sex structure. The Latino population is markedly younger, reflecting the relatively high fertility of Latinos and the contribution of inunigrants, who tend to be young adults, often with fmi1ies. Latinos have a median age of 25.3 years versus 33.6 years for the balance of the U.S. population.’ This relative youth is reflected at both extremes of the age distribution. Almost 30% of Latinos are under age IS compared to only about 21% of non-Latinos. On the other hand, just over 5% of Latinos are over age 65 compared to over 13% for non Latinos. The role of immigration is also reflected in the sex composition of the Latino population. Among Latinos, there are 104 males for every 100 females. This composition contrasts with the non -Latino gender ratio of 94 males per 100 females. Virtually all of the difference in sex comxsi-tion occurs between ages 15 and 39, where the very high Latino sex ratios can be explained by the impact of immigra tion. Legal immigrants tend to be balanced fairly evenly between males and females, but the undocumented group tends to he much more heavily male. This imbalance was especially evident for the approximately one million agricultural workers legalized under the Immigration Reform and Control (Act, who were almost entirely male (82%) and)between the ages of 20 and 44 (88% ),** TABLE 1 States With the Largest Latino Populations 1990 Latino % of % of U.S. Population Rank State Latinos U.S. Total 22.354,059 x 9.0′ . 100 California 7.687,938 1 25.8 34.4 Texas 4,339,905 2 25.5 19.4 New York 2.214,026 1 12.3 9.9 Florida 1,574,143 4 12.2 7.0 Illinois 904.446 5 7.9 4.0 New Jersey 739,861 6 9.6 3.3 Arizona 688.338 7 18.8 3.1 New Mexico 579,224 8 38.2 2.6 Colorado 424.302 9 12.9 1.9 Percent of total U.S. population Note: Latinos are also gaining an increased presence in otherparts ofthe country. Geo-aphicdiversification.coup1ed withcontinuingconcentration.arearesultottherapidgrowth intheLatinopopulationaridlarge-scaleimmigrationoverthe last several decades. In addition to the top nine Latino states 1990. another lihad Latino populationsexceeding 100,000 with five of the between 200.000 and 300,000. These II states were, in descending order. Massachusetts. Pennsyl%a nia, Washington, Connecticut, Michigan, Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon and Georgia. Source: U.S. Decennial census, 1990 *U.S. Bureau of the Census. “Age. Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin Infonnation from the 1990 census,” Repoil 1990 PH -74 Waslngton, August 1991 . **tJ.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, “Provisional Application Statistics,” Statistics Division. tIcem-ber 1991). – . Pas.sel is director o,f the Program for Research on Inniigiatton Policy at the Urban In ctitute. Washington. D.C.
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