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Hispanics
increasingly leaving established U.S.
Gateway Communities
Newswise — The Hispanic population in the
United States has experienced a
transformation in migration in the last two
decades as Hispanics have left traditional
gateway communities for the economic
opportunities in new communities, according
to new research by the University of New
Hampshire.
“The widespread geographic diffusion of
Hispanics from immigrant gateways to newly
emerging destinations is perhaps the most
significant trend in U.S. population
redistribution over the past quarter
century,” said Ken Johnson, professor of
sociology at the University of New Hampshire
and senior demographer at the UNH Carsey
Institute.
The research was conducted by Johnson and
Daniel Lichter, the Ferris family professor
in the Department of Policy Analysis and
Management, and professor of sociology at
Cornell University.
The researchers found that rates of Hispanic
growth over the 1990–2000 and 2000–2006
periods were much higher in new destinations
than in established areas in the United
States.
The research is presented in the article
“Immigrant Gateways and Hispanic Migration
to New Destinations,” which is published in
the current issue of International
Migration Review.
The study also showed that the post-2000
period brought a considerable slowdown in
Hispanic population growth overall.
However, the average annual Hispanic growth
rate remained much higher during 2000–2006
in new destinations (about 8.7 percent) than
in established Hispanic areas (3 percent).
In the 1990s, the Hispanic population in new
destinations grew at an annual rate that was
roughly five times greater than in
established areas.
After 2000, the growth rate in new
destinations was roughly three times greater
than in established areas.
The Hispanic growth in new destinations was
a result of Hispanics from other parts of
the United States moving to these new
communities and immigration from Mexico and
other parts of Latin America.
In contrast, Hispanic population growth in
established Hispanic communities was solely
the result of immigration.
In fact, these established areas actually
experienced a net domestic out-migration of
residents to other parts of the country.
The least educated Hispanics were
overrepresented in established Hispanic
areas. The most educated Hispanics lived in
areas that were not established Hispanic
areas or new areas of migration.
“Out-migration from new destinations is
selective of highly educated Hispanics,
which diminishes the stock of human capital
in new Hispanic growth areas. Low levels of
education among Hispanics represent a major
impediment to upward economic mobility in
new destinations,” the researchers said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, during
the 1990s, the Hispanic population increased
by nearly 13 million (or 58 percent), and
accounted for 40 percent of U.S. population
growth.
In 1990, about 9 out of 10 Hispanics lived
in just 10 states; California and Texas
alone accounted for 54 percent of all
Hispanics in the United States.
Since then, the geographic spread and
demographic impact of Hispanics has
accelerated nationwide.
Many communities beyond the southwestern
gateway states have witnessed large influxes
of Hispanics, especially in small-sized
metropolitan cities, suburban communities,
and nonmetropolitan (non-metro) areas.
Johnson and Lichter recently showed that 221
non-metro counties would have experienced
overall population decline during 2000–2006
if not for Hispanic population growth.
New Hispanic population growth has
revitalized many small and dying towns,
especially in the Midwest.
“Our analyses raise important policy
questions about whether recent Hispanic
in-migrants represent a source of human
capital that can infuse local communities
with new economic vitality or,
alternatively, represent mostly recently
arrived Hispanic immigrants who are ‘hard to
assimilate,’ that place new fiscal burdens
on local taxpayers, or that raise the
specter of heightened intergroup hostility
and conflict,” Johnson and Lichter said.
Funding for this research was provided by
the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Annie E. Casey
Foundation, the Northern Research Station of
the USDA Forest Service, the Cooperative
State Research, Education, and Extension
Service of the USDA, and the National
Institute of Child Health and Human
Development.
The University of New Hampshire, founded in
1866, is a world-class public research
university with the feel of a New England
liberal arts college. A land,
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