Hispanic Women in the United States, 2007

Annual births to Hispanic women in the United States exceeded one million for the first time in 2006, and one-in-four children in the U.S. under the age of five is Hispanic, according to new reports from the U.S. Census Bureau. Hispanics now make up 15.5% of the U.S. population, and nearly two-thirds (62%) of their population growth in 2006–2007 came from births rather than immigration—a reversal of the growth pattern in the 1990s, when immigration was the primary driver of Latino population increases in this country.

In order to illuminate these trends, the Pew Hispanic Center released "Hispanic Women in the United States, 2007," a statistical portrait of the demographic, social and economic characteristics of this country's 14.4 million Hispanic women.

Key findings from the report

• Hispanic women are younger than non-Hispanic women. Their median age is 41, compared with a median age of 47 for non-Hispanic women.
• The fertility rate of Hispanic women is one-third higher than that of non-Hispanic women.
• Just over half (52%) of Hispanic women are immigrants. Their fertility rate is about 30% higher than that of native-born Hispanic women.
• Some 42% of Hispanic women who gave birth in 2005-2006 were unmarried, compared with 34% of non-Hispanic women. The share of out-of-wedlock births to Hispanic women immigrants was 35%; the share for native-born Hispanic women was 50%.
• Hispanic and non-Hispanic women are equally likely (54%) to be married. Hispanic women immigrants (63%) are more likely to be married than native-born Hispanic women (44%)-in part because the latter group is younger.
• Hispanic women are less educated than Non-Hispanic women; 36% have less than a high school education, compared with 10% of non-Hispanic women.
• The labor force participation rate of Hispanic women (59%) is similar to the participation rate for non-Hispanic women (61%). Native-born Hispanic women (64%) have a higher participation rate than Hispanic women immigrants (54%).
• Hispanic women who work full time earn a median weekly salary of $460; the equivalent figure for non-Hispanic women is $615.
• Hispanic women are more likely than non-Hispanic women to work in blue-collar occupations such as building and landscape services, food preparation and services, and manufacturing.
• Some 20% of Hispanic women live in poverty, compared with 11% of non-Hispanic women.

Read the complete report Hispanic Women in the United States, 2007 on the Pew Hispanic Center Web site.