New York’s Hispanic population is the fourth-largest in the nation. More than 3 million Hispanics reside in New York, 7% of all Hispanics in the United States. There are 1.5 million eligible Hispanic voters in New York, 8% of all U.S. Hispanic eligible voters.1 This fact sheet provides key demographic information on Latino eligible voters.2 It also contains data on other major groups of eligible voters in New York, with comparative data for the U.S. All data are from the Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey.3

Hispanics in New York’s Eligible Voter Population

  • New York’s population is 16% Hispanic, the eighth-highest Hispanic population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 45%.
  • 12% of eligible voters in New York are Latinos, the eighth-largest Hispanic eligible voter population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 38%.
  • 48% of Latinos in New York are eligible to vote, ranking New York 16th nationwide in the share of the Hispanic population that is eligible to vote.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters

  • 27% of Hispanic eligible voters in New York are ages 18 to 29, a somewhat greater share than the 21% of all New York eligible voters who are in that age range.
  • A greater share of Hispanic eligible voters in New York (31%) are naturalized U.S. citizens compared with all New York eligible voters (16%). The share of New York Hispanic eligible voters (70%) who are citizens by birth is less than the share of all U.S. Hispanic eligible voters (74%) who are citizens by birth.
  • 29% of Latino eligible voters in New York have not completed high school, similar to the share of all Latino eligible voters nationwide (27%). By contrast, 14% of all New York eligible voters and 14% of all eligible voters nationwide have not completed high school.
  • Only 33% of New York Hispanic eligible voters live in owner-occupied homes compared with 62% of all New York eligible voters. Hispanic eligible voters in New York are less than half as likely to live in an owner-occupied home as are all eligible voters in the U.S.—33% versus 71%.

Characteristics of Eligible Voters in New York, by Race and Ethnicity

  • Black eligible voters in New York slightly outnumber Hispanic eligible voters—1.8 million blacks compared with 1.5 million Hispanics.
  • Latino eligible voters outnumber Asian eligible voters in New York by more than 2 to 1.
  • More Latino eligible voters (29%) in New York did not complete high school compared with white (10%), black (21%) and Asian (15%) eligible voters.
  • Asian eligible voters in New York are 2.5 times more likely to be naturalized citizens compared with Latino eligible voters—78% versus 31%.
  • 61% of Asian eligible voters in New York live in owner-occupied homes compared with 33% of Hispanic and 40% of black eligible voters in New York.