Size and characteristics of Hispanic racial subgroups  

Table 1 shows the evolution of the Hispanic population of the United States by race for 1980, 1990, and 2000 (calculated from PUMS data for each year).  The Hispanic population more than doubled in this period.  

The category that we call “white Hispanic” is still the largest.  It included nearly two thirds of Hispanics in 1980, declining to a 54% share in 1990, and now just below half in 2000.  

In 1970, only 700,000 Hispanics identified themselves as “some other race.”  Since then, however, this group that we call Hispanic Hispanics has risen to about a third in 1980, 44% in 1990 and 47% in 2000.  

A small but steady share of Hispanics identified as black in all three years, just under 3%.  Though a small percentage, the number of black Hispanics has grown from under 400,000 to over 900,000 in the period.  

 Who among Hispanics identifies as black or Hispanic rather than white?  Table 2 shows that black Hispanics are very distinctive.  They are much less likely to be immigrants compared to the average Hispanic (28% compared to 41% for all Hispanics), and much less likely to speak a language other than English at home (61% compared to 79%).  They have an advantage in education (with a mean of 11.7 years, nearly a high school level, compared to 10.5 years for all Hispanics).  On the other hand their actual economic performance is worse, with a lower median household income ($3500 below the Hispanic average), higher unemployment (more than 3 percentage points above the Hispanic average), and a higher poverty rate (31.5% compared to 26.0%).