Changes in Asian and Hispanic Population in the Cities of the Great Plains, 1990-2000

In several areas of the United States previously not known for foreign populations, the number of Hispanics and Asians have increased in the past two decades. I examined the percentage change for Hispanics and for Asians for 41 cities in the states of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota between 1990 and 2000. Hispanics and Asians are then disaggregated by ethnic subgroup, and regression analysis is used to determine the characteristics of cities that attract or repel different subgroups for both 1990 and 2000. In 2000 Mexicans, Other Hispanics, and Vietnamese were attracted to cities with low income levels and cities with a flourishing meat-processing industry. Chinese, Koreans, and Indians were attracted to cities with a public university and high levels of income. Clearly, Hispanics and Vietnamese were attracted to different cities than were the other Asian groups. This most likely reflects the educational differences between the two groups