This data brief, produced by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute research team, provides detailed information on Colorado’s Latino population using the 2015-19 American Community Survey data.

1. Latinos are the second largest racial or ethnic group in Colorado at 22% of the population (Figure 1). This is four percentage points higher than the national share of Latinos (18%). Since 2000, the Latino population in Colorado has grown 72%—twice the state’s overall population growth of 35%.

Figure 1: Population by Race and Ethnicity in Colorado, 2019

Source: LPPI analysis of 2015-2019 5-Year American Community Survey public use microdata.
Note: AAPI refers to the Asian American and Pacific Islander population.

2. Latinos are significantly younger than the average Coloradan. The median age of Latino Coloradans is 28 years old, compared to 36 for Coloradans overall. Additionally, 20% of Latinos in Colorado are 10 or under, compared to just 14% of the state population.

3. Approximately 74% of Latinos in Colorado are Mexican (74%)—12 percentage points higher than the national average of 62%. Latinos of other descent (16%), Puerto Ricans (3%), South Americans (3%), and Salvadorans (2%) close out the top five Latino descent groups in Colorado. The high proportion of Latinos of other descent reflects the state’s history as a Mexican territory—people of Mexican ancestry, sometimes referred to as Nuevomexicanos, have lived in parts of Colorado since the seventeenth century.

 

4. In Colorado, more than one-quarter of Latinos (27%) did not complete high school—a rate three times the state average (9%). Despite their low high school completion rates, Latino Coloradans have higher educational attainment levels than Latinos nationally (31% did not complete high school).

5. Latinas in Colorado are more likely to have completed college than Latino men (Figure 2). Roughly 18% of Latinas have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 15% of Latino men. Latinos have the lowest levels of educational attainment of any demographic group.

Figure 2: Population with a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Colorado, 2019

Source: LPPI analysis of 2015-2019 5-Year American Community Survey public use microdata. 

6. Latino men participate in the labor force at the highest rate (79%) among all racial and ethnic gender groups in Colorado (Figure 3). In contrast, Latina women hold the second lowest labor force participation rate—both among women and overall—at 63%. Only AAPI women participated at a lower rate (62%).

Figure 3: Labor Force Participation Rates by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Colorado, 2019

Source: LPPI analysis of 2015-2019 5-Year American Community Survey public use microdata.
Note: Data are for the civilian non-institutionalized population.

7. The median income for Latino households in Colorado is $53,300 (Figure 4). This is almost $20,000 lower than the state median household income ($71,500) and higher than that of Latinos nationally ($51,800). Additionally, 17% of Latinos live in poverty, 7 percentage points higher than the state poverty rate overall (10%).

Figure 4: Median Household Incomes by Race and Ethnicity in Colorado, 2019

Source: LPPI analysis of 2015-2019 5-Year American Community Survey public use microdata.
Note: Data reflect race and ethnicity of head of household.

8. Latino children in Colorado are about as likely to live below the poverty line (21%) as Coloradan children overall (20%) and Latino children nationally (22%). Among Latino children, those of Honduran descent are the most likely to live in poverty (29%).

9. Half of Latinos in Colorado own their home, 15 percentage points below the overall state homeownership rate (64%). However, Latino Coloradans are more likely to own a home than Latinos nationally (47%).

10. Latinos have the lowest median home value of any racial or ethnic group in Colorado, at $250,000 (along with Native Americans; Figure 5). The Latino median home value is $85,000 lower than the Colorado median overall ($335,000).

Figure 5: Median Home Values by Race and Ethnicity in Colorado, 2019

Source: LPPI analysis of 2015-2019 5-Year American Community Survey public use microdata.
Note: Data reflect race and ethnicity of head of household.

11. In Colorado, more than half of Latinos (55%) are housing cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. This rate is four percentage points higher than the state overall rate. Further, 58% of Latino children live in households experiencing a housing cost burden, four percentage points higher than the rate for children overall (54%).

12. Latinos, especially Latino children, are the most likely to live in overcrowded households—meaning they live with more than one person per room. More than 8% of all Latinos and 21% of Latino children in Colorado live in overcrowded homes, compared to 3% of all Coloradans and 11% of children overall.

13. Latinos in Colorado are twice as likely to be uninsured compared to the state overall (16% vs. 8%). However, they are less likely to be uninsured than Latinos nationally (19%). Out of all Latino subgroups, noncitizen Latinos have the highest uninsured rate (52%).

14. Latino children in Colorado are more likely to be uninsured (6%) than children overall (4%). However, the uninsured rate for Latino children in Colorado is half that of Latino children nationally (8%).

15. One-third of Latinos and more than half (55%) of Latino children in Colorado are covered by Medicaid. Both Latinos overall and children are more likely to be covered by Medicaid than the state population overall (19% for all Coloradans and 35% for all children).

Featured photo courtesy of Kaushal Subedi on Unsplash.