The Diversity and Dispersion of Latinos in Massachusetts

This snapshot report highlights the growing number, and increasing diversity, of Latinos in Massachusetts. In this state, as well as nationally, Latinos’ share of the population continues to increase, at the expense principally of the aging non-Latino white population. The Latino population is young, with a high rate of dependent children and a low rate of dependent elders. Its workforce composition has not changed signifi cantly in recent years: Latinos continue to be over-represented in blue-collar and service-sector jobs and under-represented in white-collar jobs. Across all occupational sectors (including white-collar jobs), Latino workers earn substantially less on average than members of other ethno-racial groups. Latinos also lag in regard to private medical insurance coverage and homeownership. Owning a home is a tangible mechanism for prosperity in many families and communities, a platform for economic mobility and success. This report analyzes Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data from the 2014 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Since ACS data are a sample of the population, there is some variation associated with each population estimate. In the bar graphs in this report, the ”I” that accompanies each bar represents the confi dence interval for that estimate; we expect that another sample would generate an estimate within this interval 95% of the time