North Carolina’s Hispanic population is the 12th largest in the nation. About 595,000 Hispanics reside in North Carolina, representing 1% of all Hispanics in the United States. There are 120,000 eligible Hispanic voters in North Carolina, less than 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 North Carolina, with comparative data for the U.S. All data are from the Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey.³

Hispanics in North Carolina’s Eligible Voter Population

• North Carolina’s population is 7% Hispanic, ranking 25th in the Hispanic population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 45%.
• Almost 2% of eligible voters in North Carolina are Latinos, the 35th largest Hispanic eligible voter population share nationally. New Mexico is first at 38%.
• Approximately 20% of Latinos in North Carolina are eligible to vote, ranking last nationwide in the share of the Hispanic population that is eligible to vote.

  

Characteristics of Eligible Voters

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  North Carolina’s Hispanic eligible voters are younger than all eligible voters in North Carolina—36% of Hispanic eligible voters in North Carolina are ages 18 to 29 versus 21% of all North Carolina eligible voters.

• Latino eligible voters in North Carolina are much more likely to be naturalized citizens than are all North Carolina eligible voters—31% versus 2%. They are also more likely to be naturalized than are all Latino eligible voters nationwide (26%).
• The proportion of Hispanic eligible voters in North Carolina who have attended college or earned at least a bachelor’s degree is less than the proportion of all North Carolina eligible voters who have this level of education—45% of Hispanics versus 53% of all eligible voters in North Carolina. They do have a higher level of education than all Hispanic eligible voters nationwide, only 41% of whom have attended college or earned a bachelor’s degree or more.
• Latino eligible voters in North Carolina are less likely to live in an owner-ohome than all eligible voters in North Carolina—53% versus 71%.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters in North Carolina, by Race and Ethnicity

• Black eligible voters outnumber Latino eligible voters in North Carolina by a margin of nearly 11 to 1—1.3 million blacks compared with 120,000 Latino eligible voters.
• Hispanic eligible voters are younger than white or black eligible voters in North Carolina—36% of Hispanic eligible voters are ages 18 to 29 compared with 19% of white and 25% of black eligible voters.
• Hispanic eligible voters (45%) and black eligible voters (42%) are less likely than white eligible voters (56%) to have attended college.
• Hispanic eligible voters (53%) and black eligible voters (53%) are less likely than white eligible voters (77%) in North Carolina to live in owner-occupied homes.