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State of Latino Chicago 2010: The New Equation
November, 2011
This second report in the Institute's State of Latino Chicago series follows up 2005's This is Home Now by analyzing the economic contribution of Chicago-area Latinos in 2010. Using the most recent US Census data available, the report finds that Chicago-area Latinos earned $26.2 billion, which translates to $12.3 billion in spending power, yielding a total impact of $23 billion after accounting for the indirect impact of Latino consumption spending on goods and services. The report also finds that Latinos contribute almost $1.2 billion more in tax revenues than they cost in the delivery of public services like education, health care, and other services like public safety.
What Do Black And White Residents of Metropolitan Chicago Think about Latin American and Mexican Immigrants? Findings from the Chicago-Area Survey.
July, 2007
In a recent research brief we reported that white and black residents of Chicago have generally positive views of immigrants, regardless of their national origin. In this issue we turn our attention to perceptions of Latin American immigrants, the largest immigrant group in Chicago.
CAS survey responses reveal that attitudes towards Latin American and Mexican immigrants depend on the specific issue under consideration. Blacks and Whites’ perceptions about the influences of Latin American and Mexican immigrants also depend on their level of contact (the frequency, intensity, or kind of interaction in their daily lives) between them and Latinos.
Attitudes toward Immigration: Findings from the Chicago-Area Survey
June, 2007
Throughout its history Chicago has been a prime destination for new immigrants to the United States. Nearly one in five residents of metropolitan Chicago (18 percent) is an immigrant, compared to only 11 percent nationwide. Just under half (47 percent) of all immigrants in the Chicago area are from Latin America—principally Mexico. This paper examines the attitudes of Latino and non- Latino white and black Chicagoans towards immigration, in general, and the perceived impact on the country of immigrants from Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, and various countries in Asia and Europe.
The only subgroups of CAS survey respondents in which a majority favored reducing immigration levels were non-Latino white men (but not women), whites with only a high school education, and white Republicans and Independents.
Preliminary Explorations of Latinos and Politics: Findings from the Chicago-Area Survey
March, 2007
The 2004 elections underscored the current and future significance of Latinos in US politics at local, state, and national levels. Although this phenomenon has been the focus of considerable research among scholars of the American political system, how partisan and electoral patterns vary among Latinos by national origin, region, and socioeconomic status remains undefined, and a number of claims regarding the extent of participation and voting and the partisan leanings among Latinos remain under dispute.
Latino political participation—registration and voting—appears low. There is a leaning toward affiliation with the Democratic Party but not to the degree often identified in other studies. Latinos are much more likely to see the Democratic Party as more attentive to their problems than the Republican Party, but there is also a strong collective sense of no preference for either party or that neither party is well focused on Latino concerns.
Variations in Political Involvement and Attitudes among Latinos by Place of Birth and Citizenship: Findings from the Chicago-Area Survey
March, 2007
This paper elaborates on "Preliminary Explorations of Latinos and Politics" (Latino Research @ ND, Vol. 4, No. 1, March 2007) by John Garcia and Rodney Hero, based on the Chicago-Area Survey (CAS).1 Here we further examine the findings discussed in that paper by differentiating the behavior and attitudes of US-born Latinos from those of the foreign born and those of citizens from those of noncitizens.
Latino political clout in the Chicago area will grow dramatically in the coming years. Although a majority of Chicago-area adults are foreign born and many are not citizens, 84 percent of Latinos under 18 years of age in the Chicago area are US-born citizens. While the level of involvement of Chicago-area Latino citizens in electoral politics is relatively low, it is expected to grow in upcoming elections.
Latino Civic and Community Involvement: Findings from the Chicago-Area Survey
December, 2006
Nearly half of Chicago-area Latinos are involved in one or more community organizations. Church membership is by far the most commonly cited type of involvement. The foreign born are twice as likely as the US born to be church members. More than 60 percent of survey respondents believe they could have a positive impact on their community. Only 14 percent of Chicago Latinos reported working with neighbors to improve their community in the past two years, compared with 26 percent of Latinos nationally. Well over half said that they would be likely to cooperate with neighbors under certain circumstances. Overall, survey respondents reported a slight decline in level of community involvement in recent years, more pronounced among the US born than the foreign born.
Despite language and cultural barriers and the fact that most of the foreign-born Latinos in Chicago are not citizens, they tend to be more involved in their communities than US-born Latinos. US born Latinos are also more likely to report diminished levels of involvement in community activities and organizations.
The Economic Progress of US- and Foreign-Born Mexicans in Metro Chicago: Indications from the United States Census
February, 2006
Metropolitan Chicago is home to a large population of 1.1 million Mexican-origin persons,including more than 504,000 persons born in and almost 563,500 persons born outside of the United States. The socioeconomic progress of these communities is of key interest to policymakers and others interested in the overall social and economic status of the region. This report examines two key questions involving the Mexican-origin population in the Chicago area: 1) How are Mexican immigrants progressing and 2) how are the US-born Mexican Americans fairing in comparison to the immigrants. The report uses census data to examine the standing of these populations in terms of household income, educational status, poverty levels, and homeownership rate.
With regard to the status of Mexican immigrants in the Chicago area, analyses based on data from the 1990 and 2000 Censuses show that their income, poverty, and homeownership levels improved over the last decade. The median household income of Mexican immigrants increased by 12.0 percent in the 1990s, while the poverty rate decreased.
The State of Latino Chicago: This Is Home Now
November, 2005
Metropolitan Chicago is undergoing a profound transformation from a region dominated politically and demographically by European Americans to one in which no single racial or ethnic group will be the majority. Long a preeminent center of manufacturing and trade, Chicago is known as a city that works. In The State of Latino Chicago, we examine the status of the region's fastest growing and, arguably, hardest working population.
The importance of multiple workers for the economic stability of Latino families is apparent when examining the relationship of multiple worker households to median household income. In metro Chicago, the median income for all households in 2000 was $52,200 compared to $44,300 for Latino households. Only 14 percent of Latino households with one worker had incomes of at least $50,000—enough to approximate or surpass the median for all households. However, 45 percent of households with two workers had incomes of at least $50,000 per year, as did 74 percent of households with three or more workers.
Measuring the Minority Education Gap in Metropolitan Chicago
July, 2005
The examination of the Illinois educational data system, with a special focus on the gaps that exist in ten suburban Cook County districts, provides a useful case study of the role that state education data systems can play not only in highlighting disparities in educational achievement but also in informing policies that can help achieve the twin goals of educational excellence and equity.
While low-income students underperform and fail to meet proficiency in Latino and African American districts, they are able to demonstrate more success in White districts which offer better overall educational resources and opportunities for their students. An important caveat in this, however, is that low-income students in all three district groupings drop in achievement from third to fifth grade across both subject areas.
Latino-Origin Populations Revisited: Estimating the Latino-Origin Group Populations at the National Level and for Selected States, Counties, Cities, and Metro Chicago.
April, 2005
Since the release of Latino subgroup population data by the Census Bureau in 2001, many Latino advocacy and community organizations, planners, and scholars have suspected that the official census enumeration represents a severe underestimate of Latino-origin group populations in all parts of the country.
Since the release of Latino subgroup population data by the Census Bureau in 2001, many Latino advocacy and community organizations, planners, and scholars have suspected that the official census enumeration represents a severe underestimate of Latino-origin group populations in all parts of the country.
Latino Demographic Growth in Metropolitan Chicago
January, 2005
With 1.4 million members, the Latino community is a large and growing part of the Metropolitan Chicago region. Latinos, who comprise one in six of the region’s residents, are found throughout the area, from older Chicago neighborhoods to new suburban developments. The population includes nearly as many foreign-born residents as native-born. While the Latino presence has become an especially prominent part of the social fabric of the region in recent years, Latinos have lived in Chicago since the early decades of the twentieth century. During the 1990s two-thirds of all new residents in the region were Latino.
Growth in the Latino population in Metropolitan Chicago has been propelled primarily by Mexicans, whose population increased by 497,487 (88 percent) between 1990 and 2000. In marked contrast to the rapid growth of the Mexican origin population, the region’s second largest Latino origin group, Puerto Ricans, increased by only 6,048 (4 percent) during the same period.
In Search of Economic Parity: The Mexican Labor Force in Chicago
December, 2004
This paper will focus on Mexicans and the Mexican labor force in Chicago. Its intent is fundamentally exploratory. Its specific goal is to lay a foundation and to identify some parameters for gauging the relative economic well-being of Mexicans in the Chicago metropolitan area and to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses on the path to economic parity—given a restructuring and evolving labor force and economy. In this sense it is a working paper in anticipation of a larger work on the Mexican labor force in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Over a 20-year span the cohort of Mexican immigrants not only did not reach or approximate income parity with the white American majority but, comparatively, they lost a significant amount of income ground. The Chicago Mexican story, then, is no different from the Los Angeles Mexican story. Collectively, their relative economic status has not improved over time; rather, it has gotten worse.
Latino Population in Illinois and Metropolitan Chicago: Young and Growing Fast!
December, 2003
This edition of Latino Research @ ND highlights major demographic changes taking place in Metropolitan Chicago and Illinois, which have profound implications for the delivery of quality educational, health, and social services to the young people of the region and of the state.
All six Chicagoland counties experienced significant growth in the number of Latino school-age children from 1990 to 2000. As in the total Latino population of Illinois, 92 percent of the state’s Latino school- age children live in the six Chicagoland counties. In 2000 Cook County had the largest number of Latino children (262,599). Kane County, however, had the largest concentration of Latino school-age children (28 percent), and McHenry County experienced the highest rate of growth from 1990 to 2000 (237 percent). In the city of Chicago one out of every three school-age children is Latino.
School Segregation by Race and Poverty in Metropolitan Chicago
December, 2003
The continued segregation of low-income and minority students from more affluent White students is a serious obstacle to the elimination of race - and class - related gaps in student achievement.
The correlation between the percentage of minority students in a school and the percentage of children in poverty is high (r = .92). Almost all schools with a minimal percentage of minority students also have a minimal percentage of students in poverty. Conversely, almost all of the schools with very high concentrations of minority students also have at least half of their students in poverty.
Bordering the Mainstream: A Needs Assessment of Latinos in Berwyn and Cicero, Illinois
The Latino populations of Berwyn and Cicero, Illinois—two of Chicago’s oldest suburbs—have increased dramatically in the last decade. What issues matter most to Latinos in the two communities? Our 2002 study, Bordering the Mainstream: A Needs Assessment of Latinos in Berwyn and Cicero, Illinois, provided a timely and valuable snapshot.
The report's release is the first step in a major initiative undertaken by the University of Notre Dame's Institute for Latino Studies to conduct research and promote community capacity-building in Berwyn and Cicero. On April 24, 2002, the Institute held a public briefing to share results of the study with the media and local leaders at the Second Federal Savings and Loan in Cicero
Citizenship and Civic Participation
Preliminary Explorations of Latinos and Politics: Findings from the Chicago-Area Survey
March, 2007
The 2004 elections underscored the current and future significance of Latinos in US politics at local, state, and national levels. Although this phenomenon has been the focus of considerable research among scholars of the American political system, how partisan and electoral patterns vary among Latinos by national origin, region, and socioeconomic status remains undefined, and a number of claims regarding the extent of participation and voting and the partisan leanings among Latinos remain under dispute.
Latino political participation—registration and voting—appears low. There is a leaning toward affiliation with the Democratic Party but not to the degree often identified in other studies. Latinos are much more likely to see the Democratic Party as more attentive to their problems than the Republican Party, but there is also a strong collective sense of no preference for either party or that neither party is well focused on Latino concerns.
Variations in Political Involvement and Attitudes among Latinos by Place of Birth and Citizenship: Findings from the Chicago-Area Survey
March, 2007
This paper elaborates on "Preliminary Explorations of Latinos and Politics" (Latino Research @ ND, Vol. 4, No. 1, March 2007) by John Garcia and Rodney Hero, based on the Chicago-Area Survey (CAS).1 Here we further examine the findings discussed in that paper by differentiating the behavior and attitudes of US-born Latinos from those of the foreign born and those of citizens from those of noncitizens.
Latino political clout in the Chicago area will grow dramatically in the coming years. Although a majority of Chicago-area adults are foreign born and many are not citizens, 84 percent of Latinos under 18 years of age in the Chicago area are US-born citizens. While the level of involvement of Chicago-area Latino citizens in electoral politics is relatively low, it is expected to grow in upcoming elections.
Latino Civic and Community Involvement: Findings from the Chicago-Area Survey
December, 2006
Nearly half of Chicago-area Latinos are involved in one or more community organizations. Church membership is by far the most commonly cited type of involvement. The foreign born are twice as likely as the US born to be church members. More than 60 percent of survey respondents believe they could have a positive impact on their community. Only 14 percent of Chicago Latinos reported working with neighbors to improve their community in the past two years, compared with 26 percent of Latinos nationally. Well over half said that they would be likely to cooperate with neighbors under certain circumstances. Overall, survey respondents reported a slight decline in level of community involvement in recent years, more pronounced among the US born than the foreign born.
Despite language and cultural barriers and the fact that most of the foreign-born Latinos in Chicago are not citizens, they tend to be more involved in their communities than US-born Latinos. US born Latinos are also more likely to report diminished levels of involvement in community activities and organizations.
Bordering the Mainstream: A Needs Assessment of Latinos in Berwyn and Cicero, Illinois
The Latino populations of Berwyn and Cicero, Illinois—two of Chicago’s oldest suburbs—have increased dramatically in the last decade. What issues matter most to Latinos in the two communities? Our 2002 study, Bordering the Mainstream: A Needs Assessment of Latinos in Berwyn and Cicero, Illinois, provided a timely and valuable snapshot.
The report's release is the first step in a major initiative undertaken by the University of Notre Dame's Institute for Latino Studies to conduct research and promote community capacity-building in Berwyn and Cicero. On April 24, 2002, the Institute held a public briefing to share results of the study with the media and local leaders at the Second Federal Savings and Loan in Cicero
Labor and the Economy
Hispanic Housing in the United States 2006
June, 2006
In recent years Hispanics have become a major force in housing markets across the nation. As the fastest growing segment of the US population, Hispanics are forming new households at an unprecedented rate—fueling demand in both the renter- and owner-occupied housing markets. Hispanic immigrant householders and their children, along with the many long-established Hispanic residents of the United States, are creating homes for themselves and their families and have become stakeholders in their communities.
Hispanic households increased by more than 50 percent in 45 of the 50 states. Although nearly two-thirds of all Hispanic households are still concentrated in only four states—California, Texas, Florida, and New York—major growth is occurring in almost every state, with some of the most dramatic taking place in Southern and Midwestern states that until recently did not have many Hispanic households.
The Economic Progress of US- and Foreign-Born Mexicans in Metro Chicago: Indications from the United States Census
February, 2006
Metropolitan Chicago is home to a large population of 1.1 million Mexican-origin persons,including more than 504,000 persons born in and almost 563,500 persons born outside of the United States. The socioeconomic progress of these communities is of key interest to policymakers and others interested in the overall social and economic status of the region. This report examines two key questions involving the Mexican-origin population in the Chicago area: 1) How are Mexican immigrants progressing and 2) how are the US-born Mexican Americans fairing in comparison to the immigrants. The report uses census data to examine the standing of these populations in terms of household income, educational status, poverty levels, and homeownership rate.
With regard to the status of Mexican immigrants in the Chicago area, analyses based on data from the 1990 and 2000 Censuses show that their income, poverty, and homeownership levels improved over the last decade. The median household income of Mexican immigrants increased by 12.0 percent in the 1990s, while the poverty rate decreased.
A Roof Over Our Heads
June, 2005
In recent years Hispanics have become a potent force in the US housing market and they will become even more so in the coming years. As a result of rapid population growth and the youthfulness of the Hispanic population, 30 percent of the growth in US households between 1990 and 2003 is attributable to Hispanics. During the same period Hispanics accounted for one-fifth of the country’s growth in owner-occupied households and fully three-quarters of the growth in rented homes.
Housing costs impose more of a burden on Hispanics despite the fact that Hispanic households are much more likely than others to be composed of additional family and nonfamily members, many of whom contribute to the household budget. Forty-eve percent of Hispanic households in the United States contain additional members beyond the householder, spouse or partner, and children, compared to only 30 percent of all households. Thirty-two percent of Hispanic households contain other relatives and 13 percent contain nonfamily members.
In Search of Economic Parity: The Mexican Labor Force in Chicago
December, 2004
This paper will focus on Mexicans and the Mexican labor force in Chicago. Its intent is fundamentally exploratory. Its specific goal is to lay a foundation and to identify some parameters for gauging the relative economic well-being of Mexicans in the Chicago metropolitan area and to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses on the path to economic parity—given a restructuring and evolving labor force and economy. In this sense it is a working paper in anticipation of a larger work on the Mexican labor force in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Over a 20-year span the cohort of Mexican immigrants not only did not reach or approximate income parity with the white American majority but, comparatively, they lost a significant amount of income ground. The Chicago Mexican story, then, is no different from the Los Angeles Mexican story. Collectively, their relative economic status has not improved over time; rather, it has gotten worse.
Latinos' Low Pension Coverage and Disenfranchisement from the US Financial System
December, 2004
Improving the living standards of older Americans represents a significant victory for US social policy over the past thirty years. Real incomes of the elderly doubled and poverty rates plunged—from over 30 percent in the early 1960s to under 10 percent in 2000 (Census Bureau 2001a)—mainly due to the expansion of the Social Security and employer pension systems. Despite these accomplishments there are serious concerns about the economic prospects of vulnerable groups, including elderly Latinos whose 2000 poverty rates were among the highest at over 20 percent, according to Census 2000.
Analysis of the Survey of Income Program Participants (SIPP) reveals that working for an employer who does not sponsor a pension plan (having no coverage) is the most common reason Latinos have fewer employer pensions. Furthermore, even if an employer does sponsor a pension plan, Latinos are less likely than others to be eligible for it: 28 percent of Latinos were ineligible to participate in their employers' pension plans, compared to 25 and 21 percent of blacks and whites respectively.
School Segregation by Race and Poverty in Metropolitan Chicago
December, 2003
The continued segregation of low-income and minority students from more affluent White students is a serious obstacle to the elimination of race - and class - related gaps in student achievement.
The correlation between the percentage of minority students in a school and the percentage of children in poverty is high (r = .92). Almost all schools with a minimal percentage of minority students also have a minimal percentage of students in poverty. Conversely, almost all of the schools with very high concentrations of minority students also have at least half of their students in poverty.
Education
Measuring the Minority Education Gap in Metropolitan Chicago
July, 2005
The examination of the Illinois educational data system, with a special focus on the gaps that exist in ten suburban Cook County districts, provides a useful case study of the role that state education data systems can play not only in highlighting disparities in educational achievement but also in informing policies that can help achieve the twin goals of educational excellence and equity.
While low-income students underperform and fail to meet proficiency in Latino and African American districts, they are able to demonstrate more success in White districts which offer better overall educational resources and opportunities for their students. An important caveat in this, however, is that low-income students in all three district groupings drop in achievement from third to fifth grade across both subject areas.
Latino Population in Illinois and Metropolitan Chicago: Young and Growing Fast!
December, 2003
This edition of Latino Research @ ND highlights major demographic changes taking place in Metropolitan Chicago and Illinois, which have profound implications for the delivery of quality educational, health, and social services to the young people of the region and of the state.
All six Chicagoland counties experienced significant growth in the number of Latino school-age children from 1990 to 2000. As in the total Latino population of Illinois, 92 percent of the state’s Latino school- age children live in the six Chicagoland counties. In 2000 Cook County had the largest number of Latino children (262,599). Kane County, however, had the largest concentration of Latino school-age children (28 percent), and McHenry County experienced the highest rate of growth from 1990 to 2000 (237 percent). In the city of Chicago one out of every three school-age children is Latino.
School Segregation by Race and Poverty in Metropolitan Chicago
December, 2003
The continued segregation of low-income and minority students from more affluent White students is a serious obstacle to the elimination of race - and class - related gaps in student achievement.
The correlation between the percentage of minority students in a school and the percentage of children in poverty is high (r = .92). Almost all schools with a minimal percentage of minority students also have a minimal percentage of students in poverty. Conversely, almost all of the schools with very high concentrations of minority students also have at least half of their students in poverty.