Much of the recent increase in Ohio’s Hispanic population has occurred in the Mexican community which grew by more than 75 percent since 2000. The number of Hispanic Ohioans with an ancestral link to Mexico is more than 160,000; more than two-thirds of these residents were born in the United States. Recent immigration from Mexico is an important factor in the growth in Ohio’s Hispanic community with more than 23,000 people arriving from Mexico since 2000.
While the number of Ohio residents with Puerto Rican heritage has grown in recent decades, its portion of the Hispanic
community slowly declining, accounting for about one-fourth of Ohio’s Hispanic population. While Ohio residents with Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage make up a majority of Ohio’s Hispanic community, Central America is becoming a more common point of origin. Hispanic Ohioans with ancestors in Central America have tripled since 2000, with a large portion having ties to Guatemala or El Salvador. Around twothirds of Guatemalans and Salvadorans in Ohio are immigrants. Nearly one-fourth, or around 75,000, of Hispanic Ohioans are foreign born; nearly 40,000 of these residents have arrived in the past decade. A large proportion of immigrants from Latin America are young adult men. This is especially true for Mexico and Central America where 65 to 75 percent of migrants are between the ages of 18 and 44 and, in Mexico’s case, nearly 60 percent male. Since coming to the United States, over one-fourth of foreign-born Hispanics have become naturalized citizens. The figure for Mexican migrants is slightly lower at around 15 percent. Of the foreign-born Hispanic population, the majority reports speaking Spanish at home. Nearly one-third state they speak English “very well”. These figures do not take into account how long the person has lived in the United States. Taken as a whole, around 45 percent of Ohio’s Hispanic community report speaking only English at home while a further 30 percent report speaking English “very well”.
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