FactSheetChicago

FACT SHEET:

LATINOS IN CHICAGO AND IN SCIENCE

Latinos are the largest ethnic minority or racial group in metropolitan Chicago – numbering more than 1.6 million.*
Latinos are 20-25% of the population of Chicago.*
Chicago’s Latino population is third largest in nation; for the Mexican-origin population it is the second largest.*
38% of Chicago Public Schools students are of Latino origin.*
53% of Latino students who enter high school in ninth grade graduate four years later.*
Although 78% of US-born Latinos eventually graduate or obtain a GED by their late 20s, less than half as many US-born Latinos as non-Latino Whites graduate from college.**
10% of Hispanics aged 25-29 in US completed bachelor degrees in 2003, compared with 34% of whites and 18% of blacks.**
Among high school graduates, the percentages of Hispanics aged 25-29 in 2000 who had completed bachelors or higher stood at 15%, compared at 36% for whites and 21% for blacks.**
The representation of Hispanics in the science and engineering workforce increased from 2% to 3.2%, however this is proportionally less than their increase in the population.**

Sources:

* Ready, Timothy. The State of Latino Chicago: This Is Home Now. 2006.

** Science and Engineering Indicators 2006