50 or 54 Million?
The Latino Population in the United States
By Angelo Falcón (May 26, 2011)
The Census Bureau just released more detailed results of the 2010 Census for the United States as a whole, each state, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico (the other U.S. territories are not included). The total Latino population they reported for 2010 was 50,477,594, or 16.3 percent of the total United States population.
However, this total does not include the population of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States whose residents are U.S. citizens. By including Puerto Rico, the Latino population increases to 54,166,049, or 17.3 percent of the total U.S. population.
Below are tables we compiled that present these 2010 Census data for: 1. the United States without Puerto Rico; 2. Puerto Rico without the United States; and 3. the United States with Puerto Rico combined.
Adding Puerto Rico to the U.S. total significantly changes the characteristics of the total Latino population. For example,take the subgroup composition of the Latino population: Mexicans drop from 63.0 to 54.5 percent of the total Latino population; Puerto Ricans increase from 9.2 to 15.1 percent; Cubans decrease from 3.5 to 3.3 percent; and Other Hispanics go from 24.3 to 22.8 percent. In this current release, the Census Bureau did not break down the Latino population beyond these four categories, which they will do in future releases.
These data are based on the U.S. Census Bureau's May 26, 2010 release of the Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 for the United States . The demographic profiles provide 2010 Census data on age and sex distributions, race, Hispanic or Latino origin, household relationship and type, the group quarters population, and housing occupancy and tenure (whether the housing occupant owns or rents). With the release of data for all the states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, profiles are now available for the nation, regions, metropolitan areas, American Indian and Alaska Native areas, and other cross-state geographies. The profile includes more than 150 data items in all, plus percentage distributions. To accessfull data profiles for the United States as w hole, specific states and Puerto Rico, click here .
