Mexicans, Puerto Ricans Largest Hispanic Populations in U.S.

Mexicans and Puerto Ricans  take the two top spots in a study on the top 14 groups that make  up the Hispanic population in the United States.
According to Pew Hispanic Center’s research, 64.6 percent of Hispanics in the country are  of Mexican origin, but Puerto Ricans, the nation’s second largest Hispanic-origin group,  number about 5 million and make up only 9.5 percent of the total Hispanic population  in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Pew also found that more Puerto Ricans live in the U.S. than in Puerto Rico.  In their tabulations of the 2011 American Community  Survey, about 4.9 million Puerto Ricans live in the 50 states and the  District of Columbia and about 3.7 million people live in the island.
The rest of the groups rank as follows:

  • Salvadoran  — 3.8 percent
  • Cuban — 3.6 percent
  • Dominican — 2.9 percent
  • Guatemalan — 2.3 percent
  • Colombian — 1.9 percent
  • Spaniard — 1.4 percent
  • Honduran — 1.4 percent
  • Ecuadorian —1.2 percent
  • Peruvian — 1.1 percent
  • Nicaraguan — 0.8 percent
  • Venezuela — 0.5 percent
  • Argentinean —  0.5 percent

These groups amount to about 95 percent of the Hispanic population in the  United States.
Other interesting findings include that the two demographics most proficient in  English are Spaniards and Puerto Ricans, and the median age of Cubans here — 40  years old — is the highest out of the 14 groups. The youngest are Mexicans, with  a median age of 25.
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