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The Integration of Latino Immigrant Families in the Rural United States

Historically, rural communities across the United States have not been prime destinations for Latino immigrants. Since 1990, however, these communities have experienced a rapid and unexpected growth in their Latino immigrant populations. Many Latino immigrants are moving to rural communities in the Midwest, Southeast, and Northwest, outside of the traditional settlement areas of the southwestern U.S.

Because of this shift, rural communities will increasingly rely on the productivity, economic well-being, health, and civic participation of Latino workers and their children in the coming decades. Integration of these newest residents has become critical to the future economic and social viability of many rural communities. Mathematica researchers analyzed the process of rural Latino immigrant economic and civic integration and identified characteristics of rural communities that facilitate or hinder integration.

Using publicly available data, Mathematica examined five critical facets of rural immigrant integration: residential permanence, economic security, civic participation, family formation, and the educational progress of immigrant children. Analysis shows that Latino immigrants in new rural destinations were:

• More often male and young
• Disadvantaged by lower levels of education and limited length of residence in the U.S.
• Less likely to own a home than those in traditional rural destinations
• More isolated linguistically than their counterparts in both traditional and metropolitan areas
• More economically secure than their counterparts in traditional rural destinations in terms of lower poverty and higher full-time work rates                            

Publications

"Integrating Latino Immigrants in New Rural Destinations" Trends in Family and Communities, Issue Brief #1 (November 2008)
"Social and Economic Integration of Latino Immigrants in New Rural Destinations" Trends in Family and Communities, Issue Brief #2 (November 2008)
"The Integration of Latino Immigrants in the Rural United States" (Poster)