Census 2000 Paints Statistical Portrait Of The Nation’s Hispanic Population.

A 53 percent increase in the number of people of Mexican origin fueled much of the nearly 13 million rise in the number of Hispanics between 1990 and 2000, according to a new analysis released today by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau.

The third in a series of Census 2000 briefs, The Hispanic Population [PDF] (Adobe Acrobat required), http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-3.pdf showed that the country’s Mexican population numbered 20.6 million in 2000and comprised 58 percent of the nation’s 35.3 million Latinos. The number of Mexicans increased by 7.1 million during the decade, accounting for a majority of the 12.9 million increase in the total Hispanic population.

Another 3.4 million Latinos were Puerto Rican, 1.2 million were Cuban and 10.0 million were of other Hispanic origins. Among other Hispanics in 2000, 1.7 million were Central American, 1.4 million were South American, 0.8 million were Dominican and 6.1 million were of other Hispanic origins.

“More than three-fourths of Hispanics lived in the West or South,” said Betsy Guzman, author of the brief. “The counties with the highest concentrations of Latinos are located along the nation’s southwestern border. In fact, among the 50 counties nationwide where Hispanics comprised a majority of the total population, 43 were located in either Texas or New Mexico.”

Other highlights:

Hispanics by state

– Half of the nation’s Hispanic population lived in California or Texas. About 3 in 4 Hispanics lived in California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey combined. The largest Mexican populations were in California, Texas, Illinois and Arizona, largely southwestern states. The largest Puerto Rican populations were in New York, Florida, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, mostly Northeastern states. About two-thirds of Cubans were in Florida.

– In New Mexico, 42 percent of the population was Latino, the highest proportion of any state. Hispanics also made up more than 12 percentof the population (the national average) in eight other states (California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, New York and New Jersey). Mexicans were the largest Hispanic group in five of these states (California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado).

Hispanics by city

– New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and San Antonio each were home to more than 500,000 Latinos. Mexicans represented the majority of Hispanics in each of these places except New York, where Puerto Ricans made up the largest share.

– Latinos in East Los Angeles, Calif., comprised the vast majority (97 percent) of the population, the highest proportion of any place with 100,000 or more residents. Hispanics also comprised the majority of the population in 18 other places this size.

– The largest Mexican populations lived in Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio and Phoenix. The largest Puerto Rican populations lived in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. The largest Cuban populations lived in Hialeah, Fla.; Miami; New York; Tampa, Fla.; and Los Angeles.

Hispanics by county

– In 2000, Latinos in four counties (Los Angeles County, Calif.; Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Harris County, Texas; and Cook County, Ill.) accounted for 22 percent of the total Hispanic population.

– More than half (52 percent) of all Cubans lived in Miami-Dade County, Fla.

Additional Census 2000 briefs will be released over the next several months on topics such as age, race, sex and housing. A listing of Census 2000 briefs can be found on the Census Bureau’s Web site http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs.html.