Latinos say they and their loved ones have faced widespread job losses and serious illness due to COVID-19. Yet satisfaction with the nation’s direction is at highest level in a decade as most say the worst of the pandemic is behind us.
As the nation’s economy contracted at a record rate in recent months, the group’s unemployment rate rose sharply, particularly among Hispanic women, and remains higher among Hispanic workers than U.S. workers overall.
Since 2000, the size of the immigrant electorate has nearly doubled. More than 23 million U.S. immigrants will be eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential election.
Hispanics are more likely than the general U.S. public to believe in the American dream – that hard work will pay off and that each generation is better off than the one prior.
Youth is a defining characteristic of the U.S. Latino population. Latinos ages 35 or younger accounted for well over half of the nation’s Latino population in 2016.
High intermarriage rates and declining immigration are changing how some Americans with Hispanic ancestry see their identity. Most U.S. adults with Hispanic ancestry self-identify as Hispanic, but 11%, or 5 million, do not.
A record 33.2 million Hispanics in the U.S. speak English proficiently. While this share of Hispanics has been growing, the share that speaks Spanish at home has been declining over the past 13 years.