An estimated 791,000 Hispanics of Honduran origin resided in the United States in 2013, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
Hondurans in this statistical profile are people who self-identified as Hispanics of Honduran origin; this means either they themselves are Honduran immigrants or they trace their family ancestry to Honduras.
Hondurans are the eighth-largest population of Hispanic origin living in the United States, accounting for 1.5% of the U.S. Hispanic population in 2013. Since 1990, the Honduran-origin population has increased sixfold, growing from 127,000 to 791,000 over the period. At the same time, the foreign-born population of Honduran origin living in the U.S. grew by over 407%, up from 98,000 in 1990 to 498,000 in 2013. In comparison, Mexicans, the nation’s largest Hispanic origin group, constituted 34.6 million, or 64.1%, of the Hispanic population in 2013.1
This statistical profile compares the demographic, income and economic characteristics of the Honduran population with the characteristics of all Hispanics and the U.S. population overall. It is based on Pew Research Center tabulations of the 2013 American Community Survey. Key facts include:
- Immigration status. Nearly two-in-three Hondurans (63%) in the United States are foreign born, compared with 35% of Hispanics and 13% of the U.S. population overall. One-quarter of immigrants from Honduras have been in the U.S. for over 20 years. About two-in-ten Honduran immigrants (21%) are U.S. citizens.
- Language. Close to half (48%) of Hondurans ages 5 and older speak English proficiently.2 Some 52% of Hondurans report speaking English less than very well, compared with 32% of all Hispanics. In addition, 88% of Hondurans ages 5 and older speak Spanish at home.
- Age. Hondurans are younger than the U.S. population. The median age of Hondurans is 28; the median ages of the U.S. population and all Hispanics are 37 and 28, respectively. Among Hondurans, the median age of immigrants is 35 years, while it’s only 10 years among the U.S. born.
- Marital status. Hondurans ages 18 and older are married at a lower rate (39%) than Hispanics overall (46%) and the U.S. population overall (50%). Among Hondurans ages 18 and older, the foreign born are twice as likely to be married as U.S.-born Hondurans, 43% vs. 19%, respectively.
- Fertility. Some 8% of Honduran women ages 15 to 44 gave birth in the 12 months prior to this survey. That was similar to the rate for all Hispanic women (7%) and slightly greater than the overall rate for U.S. women (6%).
- Regional dispersion. Hondurans are concentrated in the South (55%), mostly in Florida (16%) and Texas (13%), and in the Northeast (22%), mostly in New York (11%). An additional 17% live in the West.
- Educational attainment. Hondurans have lower levels of education than the U.S. Hispanic population and the U.S. population overall. Some 9% of Hondurans ages 25 and older—compared with 14% of all U.S. Hispanics and 30% among the entire U.S. population—have obtained at least a bachelor’s degree. Among Hondurans ages 25 and older, the U.S. born are more likely to have earned a bachelor’s degree or more than foreign-born Hondurans—21% vs. 7%.
- Income. The median annual personal earnings for Hondurans ages 16 and older was $19,000 in the year prior to the survey—lower than the median earnings for all U.S. Hispanics ($21,900) and the median earnings for the U.S. population ($30,000).
- Poverty status. The share of Hondurans who live in poverty, 28%, is higher than the rate for the general U.S. population (16%) and for Hispanics overall (25%).
- Health insurance. Almost half of Hondurans (46%) do not have health insurance compared with 29% of all Hispanics and 15% of the general U.S. population. Some 15% of Hondurans younger than 18 are uninsured. (These data reflect insurance rates prior to the implementation of the individual insurance mandate of the Affordable Care Act.)
- Homeownership. The rate of Honduran homeownership (28%) is lower than the rate for all Hispanics (45%) and the U.S. population (64%) as a whole.
This statistical profile of Hispanics of Honduras origin is based on the Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is the largest household survey in the United States, with a sample of about 3 million addresses. The data used for this statistical profile come from 2013 ACS Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), representing a 1% sample of the U.S. population.
Like any survey, estimates from the ACS are subject to sampling error and (potentially) measurement error. Information on the ACS sampling strategy and associated error is available at http://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/methodology_main/. An example of measurement error is that citizenship rates for the foreign born are estimated to be overstated in the decennial census and other official surveys, such as the ACS (see Jeffrey S. Passel. 2007. “Growing Share of Immigrants Choosing Naturalization.” Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, March). Finally, estimates from the ACS may differ from the decennial census or other Census Bureau surveys due to differences in methodology and data collection procedures (see, for example, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/laborfor/laborfactsheet092209.html and http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/datasources/factsheet.html).
