Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Hispanics in the 2008 Election: Nevada

Nevada’s Hispanic population is the 11th largest in the nation. More than 605,000 Hispanics reside in Nevada, 1% of all Hispanics in the United States. There are 192,000 eligible Hispanic voters in Nevada, 1% of all U.S. Hispanic eligible voters.1 This fact sheet provides key demographic information on Latino eligible voters.2 It also contains data on other major groups of eligible voters in Nevada, with comparative data for the U.S. All data are from the Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey.3

Hispanics in Nevada’s Eligible Voter Population

  • Nevada’s population is 24% Hispanic, the 5th largest Hispanic population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 45%.
  • More than 12% of eligible voters in Nevada are Latino, the 7th largest Hispanic eligible voter population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 38%.
  • Almost 32% of Latinos in Nevada are eligible to vote, ranking 42nd nationwide in the share of the Hispanic population that is eligible to vote.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters

  • Nevada’s Hispanic eligible voters are younger than all eligible voters in Nevada—30% of Hispanic eligible voters in Nevada are ages 18 to 29 versus 21% of all Nevada eligible voters.

  • Latino eligible voters in Nevada are more likely to be naturalized citizens than are all Nevada eligible voters—33% versus 11%. They are also more likely to be naturalized than are all Latino eligible voters nationwide (26%).
  • The proportion of Hispanic eligible voters in Nevada who have attended college or earned at least a bachelor’s degree is less than the proportion of all Nevada eligible voters who have that level of education—34% of Hispanics versus 55% of all eligible voters in Nevada. They also have a lower level of education than all Hispanic eligible voters nationwide, 41% of whom have attended college or earned a bachelor’s degree or more.
  • Latino eligible voters in Nevada are nearly as likely to live in an owner-occupied home as all eligible voters in Nevada—64% versus 67%.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters in Nevada, by Race and Ethnicity

  • Latino eligible voters outnumber black eligible voters in Nevada—there are 192,000 Latino eligible voters compared with 119,000 blacks. Latino eligible voters outnumber Asian eligible voters by a margin of more than 2 to 1—192,000 versus 81,000 Asian eligible voters.
  • Hispanic eligible voters are younger than white, black or Asian eligible voters in Nevada—30% of Hispanic eligible voters are ages 18 to 29 compared with 18% of white, 25% of black and 17% of Asian eligible voters.
  • Latino eligible voters in Nevada are less likely to be naturalized citizens (33%) than are Asian eligible voters (70%).
  • Hispanic eligible voters are nearly as likely as white eligible voters in Nevada to live in owner-occupied homes—64% versus 69%.
  1. In this fact sheet, eligible voters are defined as U.S. citizens ages 18 and older. Eligible voters are not the same as registered voters. To cast a vote, in all states except North Dakota, an eligible voter must first register to vote.
  2. The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” are used interchangeably. References to “whites,” “blacks” and “Asians” are to the non-Hispanic components of those populations.
  3. The specific data set used to derive estimates contained in this fact sheet are from the University of Minnesota’s Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) for the 2006 American Community Survey (1% sample). Information can be found on the following Website: http://usa.ipums.org/usa/. The estimates in this fact sheet are subject to sampling error. Also, estimates in this fact sheet will differ from estimates that may be published by the Census Bureau because of differences between the data used by the Census Bureau and the data it has released for public use. Further information on Census data and on sampling error in the data is available at http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/2006/AccuracyPUMS.pdf.

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