Florida's Hispanic poverty rate falls but remains above U.S. average
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Latinos boost the U.S. economy so much that their combined gross domestic product rivals entire countries.
- But the percentage of U.S. Hispanics living in poverty is still well above the national average despite that figure dropping significantly over the last decade, Axios' Russell Contreras and Alice Feng report.
Why it matters: Hispanic people comprise 19% of the population and are set to be a plurality of the country's population by midcentury.
- South American buyers help fuel Florida's real estate market. Three of the top five countries for foreign home purchases in the state are Spanish speaking, according to a 2020 report.
By the numbers: Nationally, 16.8% of Hispanics — 10 million people — were living in poverty in 2022.
- That's well above the nation's overall poverty rate last year of 11.5%, but also below the 2012 Hispanic poverty rate of over 25%.
Catch up quick: The percentage of Hispanics in poverty was around 22% for much of the 1970s, but shot up to 29% in the 1980s as the population kept growing.
- It hit its highest mark in modern times in 1994 — 30.7% — following the recession of the early 1990s and a spike in new migration from Mexico after the peso devaluation crisis.
Zoom in: Fifteen percent of Florida's Hispanic residents were living in poverty as of 2022, compared to almost 13% of all state residents in Florida.
- Florida's poverty rate for Hispanics is down from 17.5% in 2005.
What they're saying: Addressing poverty is one of the most pressing issues facing Hispanics in the U.S., says José Jurado Vadillo, a research economist at the Seidman Institute at Arizona State University.
Better access to credit and quality education would help reduce Hispanic poverty, Vadillo adds.