Hispanic Diversity in Metropolitan Areas

• In Event: 189 - Section on Community and Urban Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Immigration and New Diversity

Abstract

Rapid Hispanic population growth has been a major source of increasing ethnoracial diversity in the United States. However, diversity within the Hispanic population is often obscured by the tendency of researchers, policy makers, and the public to lump all Hispanics together based on perceived similarities in language or religion. As an alternative to this panethnic approach, we use 1990-2010 decennial census data to examine the magnitude and structure of Hispanic origin-group diversity for 363 metropolitan areas. Diversity measures are constructed from metro-specific shares of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Colombians, and a residual ‘other’ category. Our analysis finds that metropolitan areas with more diverse Hispanic communities are larger, located in the Northeast, and occupied by fewer Hispanic residents than their counterparts in the West. Although the most diverse metro areas lack a majority origin group, Mexicans often constitute a majority or plurality of the local Hispanic population. Diversity levels and structures remain relatively stable over the last two decades. During the same period, exposure to diversity has risen modestly for all groups. Dominicans experience the highest Hispanic diversity while the average Mexican lives in an area where four-fifths of all Hispanics are Mexican as well. Taken together, our results provide primary support for the ‘Mexican dominance’ perspective and secondary support for a ‘Caribbean-centric settlement’ model. The potential relevance of metro Hispanic diversity to collective action, service needs, ethnic identification, and other outcomes is discussed in the conclusion.

Authors

• Michael Martin, Pennsylvania State University

• Barrett Lee, Pennsylvania State University

• Matthew Hall, Cornell University