Estimated Net New Hispanic Rural/Mixed-Rural Residents by State*

Increasingly, rural America’s new neighbors are Hispanic/Latino. While only a small percentage of Americans living in rural and mixed-rural counties are Hispanic – 12% – they make up a large number of new families moving and being born in rural places. One-in-two of America’s new rural neighbors are Hispanic. Put differently, that is 1.5 million new Hispanic residents over a two year period.

Below is a table of the estimated net new rural/mixed-rural county residents summed by state broken out by ethnicity. Figures were calculated by comparing the 2011 and 2009 American Community Survey 5-Year Population Estimates. Margins of error were excluded so figures should be taken as rough approximations.

State All Ethnicities Hispanic/Latino % Hispanic
Alabama 98,349 32,669 33% 3
Alaska 17,417 -579 < 0% 0
Arizona 69,655 46,080 66% 7
Arkansas 53,322 19,227 36% 4
California 378,886 383,331 > 100% 10
Colorado 92,830 50,376 54% 5
Connecticut 2,700 2,759 > 100% 10
Delaware 18,320 6,214 34% 3
D. of Columbia NA** NA** NA** NA
Florida 169,089 78,890 47% 5
Georgia 143,808 42,576 30% 3
Hawaii 24,590 2,952 12% 1
Idaho 57,414 18,970 33% 3
Illinois 64,330 21,983 34% 3
Indiana 65,360 16,902 26% 3
Iowa 43,080 16,652 39% 4
Kansas 21,020 18,391 87% 9
Kentucky 25,320 11,894 47% 5
Louisiana 64,930 18,598 29% 3
Maine 12,163 663 5% 1
Maryland 35,115 12,594 36% 4
Massachusetts 2,992 2,026 68% 7
Michigan 362 9,000 > 100% 10
Minnesota 53,104 13,214 25% 2
Mississippi 30,241 11,815 39% 4
Missouri 79,033 12,146 15% 2
Montana 26,597 1,515 6% 1
Nebraska 17,603 11,619 66% 7
Nevada 127,517 56,472 44% 4
New Hampshire 4,343 1,632 38% 4
New Jersey -2,672 7,453 NA*** 10
New Mexico 43,792 30,928 71% 7
New York 51,951 18,596 36% 4
North Carolina 218,062 64,479 30% 3
North Dakota 27,058 639 2% 0
Ohio 61,873 11,446 18% 2
Oklahoma 64,958 19,244 30% 3
Oregon 42,107 32,040 76% 8
Pennsylvania 42,054 14,085 33% 3
Rhode Island NA** NA** NA** NA
South Carolina 122,572 31,211 25% 3
South Dakota 11,184 1,469 13% 1
Tennessee 117,024 22,302 19% 2
Texas 365,331 230,265 63% 6
Utah 27,567 15,792 57% 6
Vermont 4,544 1,017 22% 2
Virginia 54,666 13,366 24% 2
Washington 107,072 57,737 54% 5
West Virginia 33,047 2,086 6% 1
Wisconsin 52,835 19,742 37% 4
Wyoming 30,748 6,608 21% 2
All States 3,275,263 1,521,086 46% 5

* Figures calculated by comparing the 2011 and 2009 American Community Survey 5-Year Population Estimates. Margins of error were excluded so figures should be taken as rough approximations.
** Rhode Island and the District of Columbia have no counties that are classified as “rural” or “mixed-rural” according to the measures of Andrew Isserman.
*** New Jersey had a declining rural/mixed-rural population. As a result, it is impossible to say that Hispanics accounted for any of the “increase” in the state’s rural/mixed-rural population. However, the rural/mixed-rural decline was smaller because of a large increase in the Hispanic population in these areas.

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