Facts and Figures Educators Should Know about Hispanic Americans

Teachers and school administrators, are there Hispanic students in your classrooms? Or are you instructing non-Hispanic students about their Hispanic neighbors across the U.S.?

In either case, here are some statistics you should have available.

Demographic information from USAFact.org . . .

More than 62 million Americans – or 19% of the total U.S. population – identified as Hispanic or Latino in the 2020 census.
The Hispanic population in the U.S. has increased by 47 million since 1980.
In the 2020 census, Mexican Americans represented the largest Hispanic segment, with a population of 37.2 million. The second largest Hispanic segment were Puerto Ricans, with about 5.8 million residents. Other groups include Cubans (2.4 million), Salvadorans (2.3 million) and Dominicans (2.1 million).
California and Texas were the states with the most Hispanic Americans in 2020. California was home to 15.6 million Hispanics and Texas, 11.4 million.
The percentage of Hispanic Americans living in every U.S. state has grown since 1980.
Two-thirds of all Hispanics residing in the U.S. were born in the U.S. as American citizens.
Eighteen percent of Hispanic Americans older than 25 have at least a bachelor’s degree compared to 33% of the overall U.S. population.

Economic statistics from the Joint Economic Committee Hispanic Entrepreneurship and Business Brief . . .

More than 300,000 Hispanic-owned businesses are located across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Nearly one in four of all new business startups is Hispanic-owned.
The nearly 5 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States contribute more than $800 billion to the economy annually.

And Hispanic Americans Are Attending College in Growing Numbers, according to the National Center for Education Statistics . . .

The number of Hispanic students enrolled in college rose from 3.17 million in 2016 to 3.27 million in 2017, making them only one of two demographic groups that saw an increase in college attendance. The other group with growth in college attendance is Asian-Americans.

And according to data compiled by The Washington Post, the American colleges with the largest enrollment of Hispanic students are . . .

Florida International University (Miami, FL): 32,540 Hispanic students
University of Texas, (Edinburg, TX campus): 22,281
California State University, Northridge (Northridge, CA): 17,262
California State University, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA): 16,239
University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL): 16,183

Student Research Foundation’s 2017-2018 STEM Study Points Out the Barriers that Prevent Hispanic Students from Considering STEM Careers

It is not surprising that students who take more STEM classes in high school are more likely to want to prepare for STEM careers while they are in college.

It also comes as no surprise that students who take more STEM courses in high school are more likely to be admitted to competitive college programs in chemistry, engineering, and other technology fields.

However, the 2017-18 STEM Study conducted by the Student Research Foundation sheds some additional statistical light on the barriers that stand between many Hispanic high school students and STEM careers.

Overall, the study found that only 12% of all college graduates who earn STEM degrees are Hispanic Americans.