City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Centers & Institutes 12-2008 Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update Laird Bergad Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies How does access to this work benefit you? Let us know! Follow this and additional works at: http://academicworks.cuny.edu/clacls_pubs Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Bergad, L. (2008). Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update. New York, NY: Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. Retrieved from http://clacls.gc.cuny.edu/files/2013/10/mexicans-in-new-york- City-2007-An-Update.pdf This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Centers & Institutes at CUNY Academic Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies by an authorized administrator of CUNY Academic Works. For more information, please contact AcademicWorks@cuny.edu.
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update* Center for Latin American, Caribbean & Latino Studies Laird W. Bergad Director, Center for Latin American, Caribbean & Latino Studies Graduate Center City University of New York 365 Fifth Avenue Room 5419 New York, New York 10016 212-817-8438 clacls@gc.cuny.edu http://web.gc.cuny.edu/lastudies * Note: This report is an update of the Latino Data Project study Mexicans in New York City, 1990 2005 available on the CLALCS website at the following web address: http://web.gc.cuny.edu/lastudies/latinodataprojectreports/mexicans in New York City 1990-2005.pdf Latino Data Project - Report 26 - December 2008
The Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies is a research institute that works for the advancement of the study of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latinos in the United States in the doctoral programs at the CUNY Graduate Center. One of its major priorities is to provide funding and research opportunities to Latino students at the Ph.D. level. The Center established and helps administer an interdisciplinary specialization in Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies in the Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies program. The Latino Data Project was developed with the goal of making information available on the dynamically growing Latino population of the United States and especially New York City through the analysis of extant data available from a variety of sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Institute for Health, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and state and local-level data sources. All Latino Data Project reports are available at http://web.gc.cuny.edu/lastudies/ For additional information you may contact the Center at 212-817-8438 or by e- mail at clacls@gc.cuny.edu. Staff: Laird W. Bergad, Professor, Ph.D. Program in History, Executive Director Carolina Barrera-Tobón, Administrative Director Michelle Morazán, Development and Outreach Coordinator Victoria Stone-Cadena, Director of Special Projects and Mapping Coordinator Debora Upegui-Hernández, Special Events Coordinator Melissa Swinea, Editorial Assistant Laura Limonic, Research Assistant Copyright @ 2008 Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies Room 5419 Graduate Center City University of New York 365 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10016 212-817-8438 clacls@gc.cuny.edu http://web.gc.cuny.edu/lastudies
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update 3 The Mexican-origin population of New York City continued its extraordinary growth between 2005 and 2007 increasing by just over 27%, from 227,842 to 289,755 persons according to American Community Survey data for 2007 released by the U.S. Census Bureau. From 2000, the Mexican population the City has risen by an extraordinary 57.7%. If yearly population growth among all of the City s Latino national subgroups continues at 2000-2007 rates, Mexicans will become New York City s largest Latino nationality in 2024, although there are no guarantees that these population growth rates will continue into the future. (See Figure 1). Mexican population expansion was fueled by continuing large-scale migration to New York City as well as extraordinarily high birth-rates among Mexican women already resident in the City. These are indicated in figure 2 on page 4. Foreign-born Mexicans rose by about 26% between 2005 and 2007 while the domestic-born sector of the Mexican population increased by 29%. In total some 63% of all Mexican-origin persons living in the city were foreign-born in 2007; 37% were domesticborn. 5,000 Figure 1 Population Projections Among New York City Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Mexicans based on Yearly Population Growth Rates 2000-2007 4,000 Thousands 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 2022 2025 2028 2031 2034 2037 2040 2043 2046 2049 Puerto Ricans Dominicans Mexicans
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update 4 Figure 2 Birth Rates Among Selected Latino Nationalities in New York City, 2006 (number of live births per 1,000 women ages 15-44) 160 140 138 120 100 80 60 81 64 57 56 40 20 0 Mexican Ecuadorian Dominican Colombian Puerto Rican Cuban 8 Over 80% of all Mexican-origin persons lived in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, and this had not changed substantially from 2000. There was also not much variation in the percentage of foreign or domestic-born persons in each borough in 2007. (See Table 1 and Figure 3). Table 1 Distribution of the Mexican Population of New York City by Borough and Foreign Born/ Domestic Born, 2007 Borough Population % Foreign Born Domestic Born % Foreign Born % Domestic Born Bronx 70,622 24% 43,474 27,148 62% 38% Manhattan 40,458 14% 26,148 14,310 65% 35% Staten Island 12,687 4% 8,021 4,666 63% 37% Brooklyn 88,259 30% 52,800 35,459 60% 40% Queens 77,729 27% 51,874 25,855 67% 33% Total 289,755 100% 182,317 107,438 63% 37%
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update 5 Figure 3 Mexican Population Distribution by New York City Borough, 2007 (in percentages) 26.8% 24.4% 14.0% 30.5% 4.4% Bronx Manhattan Staten Island Brooklyn Queens Mexican median household income surpassed the incomes of Dominicans and Puerto Ricans in 2007, but was significantly lower than income levels among Colombians, Cubans, and Ecuadorians. (See Figure 4). This is a somewhat surprising finding since Mexicans are New York City s most recently arrived national group. Data on employment and the number of families living in each household suggest two fundamental reasons for this First, Mexicans had a higher percentage of its population between the ages of 16 and 60 which was employed (67%) compared with Puerto Ricans (53%) and Dominicans (59%). (See Figure 5). Second, Mexicans had a significantly greater number of families living in each household (an average of 1.47 families/household) than the other Latino nationalities. (See Figure 6). This meant that household incomes among Mexicans were determined by the collective incomes of more wage earners than found among the other Latino sub-groups.
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update 6 Figure 4 Median Household Income Among New York City Latino Nationalities, 2007 70,000 60,000 58,028 52,012 51,607 50,000 40,000 42,500 40,476 33,798 30,000 20,000 10,000 - Colombian Cuban Ecuadorian Mexican Puerto Rican Dominican Figure 5 Percentage of New York City Population Ages 16-60 who were Employed by Latino Nationality, 2007 80% 70% 60% 69% 69% 67% 64% 59% 53% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Colombian Ecuadorian Mexican Cuban Dominican Puerto Rican
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update 7 Figure 6 Average Family Size per Household among New York City Latino Nationalities, 2007 1.60 1.47 1.40 1.20 1.31 1.22 1.16 1.15 1.14 1.00 0.80 0.60 0.40 0.20 - Mexican Ecuadorian Colombian Dominican Cuban Puerto Rican If we examine household income structures, Mexicans exhibit the same kind of social and economic stratification found among other Latino national groups. About 15% of all Mexican households earned less than $20,000 per year according to the 2007 data. But at the other extreme of the income-earning hierarchy, over 23% of all Mexican households earned more than $75,000 yearly. These upper end income-earning Mexican households controlled nearly 57% of all Mexican total income. Those households earning under $20,000 yearly accounted for only 2.7% of all income derived by Mexican households. (See Table 2 for the complete household income distribution structure data).
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update 8 Table 2 Estimate of Household Income Distribution Structure Mexicans in New York City, 2007 Income Category % Households % Income Less than 10,000 5.5% 0.5% 10,000-19,999 9.6% 2.1% 20,000-29,999 13.1% 4.9% 30,000-39,999 18.1% 9.7% 40,000-49,999 11.6% 8.0% 50,000-74,999 18.9% 18.2% 75,000-99,999 11.6% 15.1% 100,000-199,999 8.4% 16.3% 200,000 + 3.2% 25.1% Total 100.0% 100.0% Median Household Income $42,909 Less than 20,000 15.1% 2.7% More than 75,000 23.2% 56.5% One other measure of the socioeconomic well-being of Mexicans is the percentage of the population living in poverty. Fewer Mexican-origin persons in New York City lived in poverty in 2007 (26.6%) compared with Dominicans (30.7%) or Puerto Ricans (28.3%); but this was substantially greater than Cubans living in poverty (17.4%), Ecuadorians (16.7%), or Colombians (12.8%). (See Figure 7). The ranking of Mexicans in this hierarchy was similar to the patterns found when considering median household income.
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update 9 Figure 7 Percentage of Total Population Living in Poverty in New York City by Latino Nationality, 2007 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 30.7% 28.3% 25.6% 20.0% 17.4% 16.7% 15.0% 12.8% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% Dominican Puerto Rican Mexican Cuban Ecuadorian Colombian The New York Mexican-origin community had the poorest developed English-language abilities of any of the Latino nationalities in 2007, as would be expected within a population heavily comprised of foreign-born migrants who arrived fairly recently. About 44% of the Mexican population 5 years of age and older reported not speaking English well or not at all. This compares to 38% of Ecuadorians; 32% of Dominicans; 27% of Colombians; 24% of Cubans; and 12% of Puerto Ricans. (See Figure 8). It may be anticipated that this will change as more Mexicans are born in the U.S. and the foreign-born gradually acquire better English language skills. A correlation between better English language abilities and higher median incomes has been fairly well established. 1 1 See the Latino Data Project report by Carolina Barrera-Tobón Latino Language-Use Patterns in New York City, 2005 found at the following internet address: http://web.gc.cuny.edu/lastudies/latinodataprojectreports/latinolanguage-use Patterns in New York City, 2005.pdf
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update 10 Figure 8 Percentage of New York City Latino Nationalities Reporting Not Speaking English at all or Speaking English Poorly, 2007 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 44% 38% 32% 27% 24% 12% Mexican Ecuadorian Dominican Colombian Cuban Puerto Rican When compared with other Latino nationalities, educational attainment patterns among Mexicans in New York City in 2007 were sharply bifurcated. Mexicans had the highest percentage of its adult population 25 years of age and older who did not graduate high school (48.6%) and this was comparable to the second highest nationality, Dominicans, of whom 45% were not high-school graduates. Some 9.2% of adult Mexicans had achieved a B.A. degree or higher, but this was sharply lower than the rate found among all other Latino national groups with the exception of Ecuadorians of whom 8.5% had graduated from college or went on to higher degrees. (See Figure 9 on p. 11). Each of these socioeconomic indicators among New York Mexicans will inevitably change in subsequent census years. CLACLS will be documenting these as new data are released each year by the American Community Survey in anticipation of the detailed data which will be forthcoming in Census 2010.
Mexicans in New York City, 2007: An Update 11 Figure 9 Percentage of Population 25 Years of Age or Older with B.A. degree or Higher and who did not Graduate High School in New York City by Latino Nationality, 2007 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 22.8% 23.8% 13.5% 45.0% 12.9% 35.6% 12.9% 28.5% 9.2% 48.6% 8.5% 37.4% 0.0% Colombian Dominican Puerto Rican Cuban Mexican Ecuadorian BA or Higher Did not Graduate High School