New Report Examines the Economic and Educational Status of Afro-Latinos in the U.S.

A new report published by the Latino Policy & Politics Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles finds that the Afro-Latino population in the United States has grown at nearly twice the rate of non-Black Latinos since the beginning of the century. And the reports found that despite having higher educational attainment than non-Black Latinos, Afro-Latinos face worse outcomes in key areas including income and homeownership.

Afro-Latinos are defined in the report as people who are both ethnically Latino and racially Black.

Some of the key findings in the report are:

* In 2019, there were 2.2 million Afro-Latinos in the United States, compared to 978,000 in 2000, an increase of 120 percent.

* Afro-Latinos have lower homeownership rates, 40.6 percent for Afro-Latinos versus 54 percent for non-Black Latinos.

* Afro-Latinos had a median household income in 2019 of $47,400 compared to a median income of $52,100 for non-Black Latinos.

* In 2019, Afro-Latinos experienced a poverty rate of 23 percent, three percentage points higher than the poverty rate of non-Black Latinos.

* More than one quarter of Afro-Latinas completed a college degree, compared with 18 percent of non-Black Latinas. Some 20 percent of Afro-Latinos completed a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 15 percent of non-Black Latino men.

“Latinos are not a monolith. Yet too often, data ignores race and assumes all Latinos are racialized the same way,” said Nancy López, professor of sociology and director of the Institute for Study of “Race” & Social Justice at the University of New Mexico and one of the report’s authors. “Our work is part of a movement toward visibility for the Afro-Latinx experience through data that is premised on intersectional inquiry and praxis, not just disaggregated ethnicity data, and captures our unique experiences with oppression and resistance. This will help us understand the complexity and diversity of issues facing Latinos today and cultivate implicit solidarity within and across our communities to address existing inequities.”