---
title: "A view of the nation’s future through kindergarten demographics"
description: "In 18 states and the District of Columbia, Latino children accounted for at least 20% of public school kindergarten students in 2017."
date: "2019-07-31"
authors:
  - name: "Jens Manuel Krogstad"
    job_title: "Former Senior Writer and Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/jens-manuel-krogstad/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/07/31/kindergarten-demographics-in-us/"
categories:
  - "Education"
  - "Hispanic/Latino Demographics"
  - "K-12"
  - "Race & Ethnicity"
---

# A view of the nation’s future through kindergarten demographics

![](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FT_19.07.16_KindergartenDemos_feature.jpg)
*Kindergartners listen as teacher Bertha Picasso reads a book in Spanish at Marjorie Veeh Elementary School in Tustin, California. (Jeff Gritchen/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images)*

Today’s kindergartners offer a glimpse of tomorrow’s demographics. The number of states where at least one-in-five public school kindergartners are Latino has more than doubled since 2000, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data.

[![In 18 states, Latino children account for 20% or more of kindergartners](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FT_19.08.30_KindergartenDemographics_In-18-states-Latino-children-account-for-20-percent-or-more-kindergartners.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/07/31/kindergarten-demographics-in-us/ft_19-08-30_kindergartendemographics_in-18-states-latino-children-account-for-20-percent-or-more-kindergartners/)

In 18 states and the District of Columbia, Latino children accounted for at least 20% of public school kindergarten students in 2017 (the most recent year available), up from eight states in 2000. However, only two states – Massachusetts and Nebraska – and the District have joined this list since 2010, while one state (Idaho) dropped off. This reflects the fact that Hispanic population growth [has slowed](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/07/08/u-s-hispanic-population-reached-new-high-in-2018-but-growth-has-slowed/) over the past decade or so due to a [declining number of births](https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2017/09/18/facts-on-u-s-latinos-trend-data/) and a [decrease in immigration](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/25/latin-america-caribbean-no-longer-worlds-fastest-growing-source-of-international-migrants/), particularly [from Mexico](https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2015/11/19/more-mexicans-leaving-than-coming-to-the-u-s/).

At nearly [60 million](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/07/08/u-s-hispanic-population-reached-new-high-in-2018-but-growth-has-slowed/), Hispanics are the nation’s largest racial or ethnic minority group. They make up 18% of the U.S. population and [have dispersed](https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2016/09/08/latino-population-growth-and-dispersion-has-slowed-since-the-onset-of-the-great-recession/) across the country widely since the 1980s. The states where at least one-in-five kindergartners are Hispanic include some with historically few Hispanics, such as Massachusetts, Nebraska and Washington.

Since 2014, the number of K-12 public school students from racial and ethnic minority groups – including Hispanic, black and Asian Americans – has been higher than the white student population nationwide, according to the [U.S. Department of Education](https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2019001). In fall 2019, children from racial and ethnic minority groups are projected to make up 52.9% of public K-12 students. That’s a sharp increase from 1995, when minority groups accounted for just 35.2% of these students.

[![Hispanics are growing as a share of K-12 public school students](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FT_19.08.30_KindergartenDemographics_Hispanics-growing-share-K-12-public-school-students.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/07/31/kindergarten-demographics-in-us/ft_19-08-30_kindergartendemographics_hispanics-growing-share-k-12-public-school-students/)

Today’s newborns also offer a glimpse into the nation’s future demographics. In 2018, more than one-in-four of the nation’s newborns were Hispanic. By 2060, Hispanics are projected to make up 27% of the overall U.S. population, according to Census Bureau projections from 2017.

More broadly, slightly more than half of all babies born in the United States today are a racial or ethnic minority, a threshold first crossed [in 2015](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/06/23/its-official-minority-babies-are-the-majority-among-the-nations-infants-but-only-just/). Racial and ethnic minorities are expected to make up more than half of the total U.S. population in coming decades. They currently make up about 40% of the overall population, with the share projected to increase to [56% by 2060](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/demo/popproj/2017-summary-tables.html), according to Census Bureau projections. In 2018, there were five states – Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Texas and Nevada – plus the District of Columbia where minority groups made up more than half of the population.

*Note: This is an update to a post originally published on July 8, 2014. *