COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Newly census estimates show Ohio added more than 32,000 Hispanic residents from
2010 to 2013.
Two-thirds of Ohio’s counties have seen increases in their Hispanic populations since 2010 and declines
in the number of non-Hispanic residents, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Ohio has become more diverse,
as has the country.
Overall, the Hispanic population grew from about 3.1 percent of the state’s total population to 3.4
percent.
People who identify as Hispanic are driving population growth in 87 of Ohio’s 88 counties. The exception
was Meigs County in southern Ohio, where the numbers of Hispanic and non-Hispanics both declined.
Hispanic origin is considered to be an ethnicity, so Hispanics can be of any race under Census Bureau
definitions. Hispanics include those who identify as being Chicano, Cuban Mexican, Mexican American or
Puerto Rican, and those from other Hispanic, Latino or Spanish backgrounds.
The growth in that segment of the population is occurring as more U.S.-born Hispanics reach adulthood and
have children, said Ohio State University associate sociology professor Reanne Frank, who studies
demographics and immigration.
“The national trends are clear: The growth in Hispanics is growing faster than non-Hispanics because of
births, not immigration,” Frank said.
The Hispanic population is growing in “virtually every corner” of the nation, said Mark Hugo Lopez, the
director of Hispanic research at the Pew Research Center.