---
title: "VII. Settlement Patterns"
description: "The Hispanic population is geographically concentrated in certain states, and Hispanic public school enrollments mirror these residence patterns. More than half (52%) of all Hispanic students are educated in California and Texas. Hispanic students are concentrated in the “established” Hispanic states,[13. numoffset=”3″ Established Hispanic states are those that have had growth of less than 200% […]"
date: "2008-08-26"
authors:
  - name: "Richard Fry"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2008/08/26/vii-settlement-patterns/"
---

# VII. Settlement Patterns

The Hispanic population is geographically concentrated in certain states, and Hispanic public school enrollments mirror these residence patterns. More than half (52%) of all Hispanic students are educated in California and Texas. Hispanic students are concentrated in the “established” Hispanic states,[13. numoffset="3" Established Hispanic states are those that have had growth of less than 200% among Hispanics but had a population increase of more than 200,000 Hispanics from 1980 to 2000. New Hispanic states are those that have had growth of more than 200% among Hispanics and an increase of 200,000 or more Hispanic residents over that period. Emerging Hispanics states are those that have had growth of greater than 200% among Hispanics but had a population increase of less than 200,000 Hispanics. For more information on these definitions, please see [Hispanics: A People in Motion](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/reports/40.pdf).] which besides California and Texas are Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. About three-quarters of all Hispanic students live in these nine states.

Three-quarters (76%) of native-born Hispanic students attend school in the “established” Hispanic states mentioned above. An additional 13% live in the “new” Hispanic states of Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia and Washington.

![](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2008/08/2008-public-school-12.png)

Foreign-born Hispanic students tend to be educated in slightly different states than those who are native born. Less than half (46%) of Hispanic foreign-born public school students live in Texas and California, and only two-thirds (66%) reside in the nine “established” Hispanic states. They are more likely than their native-born counterparts to live in the “new” Hispanic states mentioned above (21%) as well as the “emerging” Hispanic states of Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin (8%).