U.S. Hispanic population continued its geographic spread in the 2010s

The U.S. Hispanic population reached 62.1 million in 2020 , an increase of 23% over the previous decade that outpaced the nation’s 7% overall population growth. At the county level, growth played out unevenly, which resulted in the continued geographic spread of Hispanics . Numerical growth of Hispanics was largest in counties that already had significant Hispanic populations, but the growth rate was largest in counties with smaller Hispanic populations, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of decennial census data from 1980 to 2020 . Check out our interactive on Hispanic population growth .

The Hispanic population grew by 50% or more from 2010 to 2020 in 517 of the 1,685 counties with 1,000 or more Hispanics in the 2020 census. The vast majority of these counties are not in what have historically been Hispanic population centers. Together, these counties have a Hispanic population of only 7.6 million. By contrast, the 20 counties with the largest numerical growth in population are home to more than a third of the nation’s Hispanics (22.2 million).

The U.S. Latino population has been shifting away from states with historically large Latino populations for decades, a trend that can be seen at the state level. […]

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