Hispanics are the fastest growing segment of the American population,
and this growth is especially striking in rural America. The 2000
census shows that Hispanics accounted for only 5.5 percent of the
Nation's
nonmetro population, but 25 percent of nonmetro population growth
during the 1990s. Many counties throughout the Midwest and Great
Plains would have lost population without recent Hispanic population
growth. Among nonmetro counties with high Hispanic population growth
in the 1990s, the Hispanic growth rate exceeded 150 percent, compared
with an average growth rate of 14 percent for non-Hispanics. Moreover,
Hispanics are no longer concentrated in Texas, California, and other
Southwestern States—today nearly half of all nonmetro Hispanics
live outside the Southwest.
Residential segregation is an important measure of assimilation,
because it reflects the ability of newcomers to integrate socially
and economically with the native population. ERS researchers evaluated
segregation patterns in metro and nonmetro America using 1990 and
2000 census population data to calculate the Dissimilarity Index,
an established measure of relative population distribution between
two groups. Nationally, the Hispanic population is clearly more
dispersed throughout regions, States, and counties than ever before,
the result of migration patterns changing from destinations in the
Southwest to those in the South and Midwest. Decreases in the Dissimilarity
Index between Whites and Hispanics across all nonmetro U.S. counties
reflect this growing dispersion. However, at the neighborhood level,
a different picture emerges. Residential segregation increased over
the decade, with the largest increases occurring in nonmetro counties
experiencing high Hispanic population growth. While neighborhood-level
segregation in U.S. metro counties exceeded that of high-growth
nonmetro counties in 1990, the reverse was true by 2000.
Rural population growth and increasing residential segregation
have significant implications for economic development and socioeconomic
inequality. Hispanic population growth in rural areas often coincides
with revived economies from expanded manufacturing, increased recreation
and tourism, and growing retirement destinations. However, relatively
sudden influxes of ethnic-minority, low-wage workers and their families
can overwhelm rural school systems, depress local wages, increase
demand for social services, and contribute to income inequality
and residential segregation. The extent to which Hispanic inmigrants
integrate spatially within a community directly affects their interaction
with the community as well as native attitudes toward ethnic and
racial diversity. If Hispanic neighborhoods become increasingly
segregated, they will likely experience declining access to retail
centers, growing dependence on government assistance, underfunded
schools and social services, and transportation barriers to employment.
Future population shifts, low-wage job availability, skill upgrading,
and State and community-level support programs will affect the degree
to which Hispanics assimilate in rural America.
