Families such as these attending a Dia de Reyes celebration are part of Milwaukee County’s fast-growing Hispanic population. (Photo by Jennifer Janviere)
The Hispanic population in Milwaukee County continues to grow rapidly, according to a newly released analysis of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center’s Demographic Profile of Hispanics in Wisconsin, 2010.
The group’s population in the county increased to 126,039 in 2010, up 52.9 percent from 2000 and 182 percent from 1990, when they numbered 44,671. Hispanics represent 13 percent of Milwaukee County’s total population; more than one-third (37.6 percent) of the state’s Hispanics live in Milwaukee County.
Hispanics are 6 percent of the total Wisconsin population. Of these, 69 percent are native born and 31 percent born abroad, and the largest subgroup is Mexican (71 percent). The state’s Hispanics are relatively young, according to the data, with a median age of only 23.
The report, based on the 2010 American Community Survey, also showed that one-third of the Hispanic population age 17 and younger in Wisconsin lives in poverty, compared to 12 percent of whites and 52 percent of blacks in that age group. For those between the ages of 18-64, the poverty rate dips to 20 percent.
Nearly half of Hispanic householders in the state—48 percent—own their home. Sixty-five percent speak a language other than English at home.
Edgar is a senior staff reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Mendez is a proud graduate of UW-Milwaukee, where he double majored in Journalism and Sociology, and of Marquette University, where he earned a master’s degree in Communication. As an accomplished journalist, Edgar’s awards include a 2018 Regional Edward R. Murrow award, several press club awards and a Society of Professional Journalists’ regional award for columns dealing with issues such as poverty, homelessness and racism.
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