A Profile of Latina Women in New York City, 2007

Introduction: This report provides an in-depth profile of Latinas of various national origins in 2007 New York City. Methods: Data on Latinas and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates. Results: There was little difference in the sex breakdown between Latinos and non-Latinos in New York City (48% of all Latinos were women while 47.6% of non-Latinos were women). 37% of Latinas in 2007 were Puerto Rican while Dominican women were the second largest national origin group (29%) and Mexican women, while only 11% of the Latina population, were the third largest group. Latinas in New York were less educated than their non-Latina counterparts -- about 37% of Latinas did not have a high-school degree, compared to only 16% of non-Latinas. Latinas also earned considerably less than their non-Latina counterparts -- the median personal earned income for Latinas in the labor force was $19,226, while non-Latino women in New York had a median income of $34,506. Discussion: Latino women in New York City were, on average, younger, less educated and earned less money than non-Latino women in 2007. They were less likely to hold professional or management jobs and much more likely to work in lower-skilled and lower-paying jobs in the service sector. Latina immigrants were also less likely to be naturalized citizens than their non-Latina counterparts. The findings show that it is important to break down Latinas by national origin group. Wide variations are found across groups with some national origin groups reporting much higher educational, income, citizenship and language patterns than others