National Hispanic Heritage Month

Taking a Closer Look at Latino Children’s Well-Being

Updated September 15, 2024 | Posted September 27, 2022
By the Annie E. Casey Foundation
Three Hispanic siblings sit in front of a grassy knoll. They beam at the camera, wearing backpacks.

Nation­al His­pan­ic Her­itage Month is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to hon­or the rich cul­tur­al diver­si­ty and his­to­ries of His­pan­ic and Lati­no pop­u­la­tions in Amer­i­ca. Each year, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the month cel­e­brates the valu­able con­tri­bu­tions these fam­i­lies and indi­vid­u­als make to our coun­try. Giv­en the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s focus on strength­en­ing fam­i­lies and track­ing the sta­tus of chil­dren through the KIDS COUNT® Data Cen­ter, this month is an excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty to take stock of His­pan­ic and Lati­no children’s health and well-being.

Who Are His­pan­ic and Lati­no Children?

His­pan­ic or Lati­no* chil­dren — rep­re­sent­ing over 1 in 4 kids nation­wide — are not a homo­ge­neous group. The U.S. Cen­sus Bureau cat­e­go­rizes more than 30 dif­fer­ent His­pan­ic or Lati­no groups, includ­ing peo­ple orig­i­nat­ing from Mex­i­co, Cen­tral or South Amer­i­ca, Puer­to Rico, Cuba and/​or oth­er Span­ish-speak­ing coun­tries. While these chil­dren rep­re­sent a wide array of cul­tur­al­ly diverse pop­u­la­tions, most data sources cat­e­go­rize them as one group, which can mask impor­tant dif­fer­ences between pop­u­la­tions. For instance, the Foundation’s 2024 Race for Results report found that among the 10 largest Lati­no or His­pan­ic groups in Amer­i­ca, young peo­ple in fam­i­lies from Colom­bia, Spain and Cuba were more like­ly to meet bench­marks of finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty, while fam­i­lies and young peo­ple from Hon­duras and Guatemala were the least like­ly to do so.

More than 90% of His­pan­ic or Lati­no chil­dren are U.S.-born cit­i­zens, although over half (51%) live in immi­grant fam­i­lies, accord­ing to the Race for Results report. Chil­dren from Puer­to Rico are U.S. cit­i­zens, of course, by virtue of their birth in a U.S. ter­ri­to­ry. More than 1.7 mil­lion Lati­no chil­dren in the Unit­ed States are Puer­to Rican. 

Among chil­dren of col­or in Amer­i­ca, His­pan­ic or Lati­no kids make up the largest racial or eth­nic group, and they have grown — in num­ber and share — more than any oth­er group over the past two decades. Since 2000, the pop­u­la­tion of His­pan­ic or Lati­no chil­dren increased from approx­i­mate­ly 12.5 mil­lion to 19.2 mil­lion in 2023.

These chil­dren live in every region of the coun­try, illus­trat­ed by the map below. The largest con­cen­tra­tions of these young peo­ple are in three south­west­ern states, rep­re­sent­ing more than half of all chil­dren in New Mex­i­co (60% in 2023) and Cal­i­for­nia (52%), and near­ly half in Texas (48%). How­ev­er, the per­cent­age of kids who are His­pan­ic or Lati­no has increased in all 50 states and D.C. since the turn of the cen­tu­ry. More recent­ly, all states except Texas saw growth in this fig­ure since 2010, and few­er states — just 38 includ­ing D.C. — saw increas­es since 2020.

Share of Hispanic and Latino kids by state, 2023

Many His­pan­ic and Lati­no kids are thriv­ing across the Unit­ed States, bol­stered by nur­tur­ing fam­i­lies, strong com­mu­ni­ties and oth­er assets such as bilin­gual­ism. These young peo­ple will play a major role in the future work­force, elec­tions, lead­er­ship and oth­er aspects of soci­ety. Ensur­ing the well-being of these chil­dren will be vital to the suc­cess of our nation in the com­ing decades. 

His­pan­ic and Lati­no Children’s Health and Well-Being

The 2024 KIDS COUNT Data Book high­lights areas in which His­pan­ic and Lati­no chil­dren and youth are far­ing bet­ter than nation­al aver­ages on health and safe­ty mea­sures. It also notes areas in which these chil­dren con­tin­ue to expe­ri­ence dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly worse out­comes. Among the pos­i­tive find­ings, infants who are His­pan­ic or Lati­no are more like­ly to be born at a healthy weight. This is crit­i­cal because low birth weight is linked to long-term health prob­lems and infant mor­tal­i­ty. Kids and ado­les­cents who are His­pan­ic or Lati­no also have low­er death rates than the nation­al aver­age.

Despite these impor­tant suc­cess­es, dozens of oth­er indi­ca­tors illus­trate that our coun­try is not pro­vid­ing His­pan­ic or Lati­no chil­dren and fam­i­lies with equi­table oppor­tu­ni­ties and resources to achieve their full potential. 

Teen Death Rate by Race and Ethnicity in 2022

Accord­ing to the lat­est data, some sta­tis­tics that war­rant atten­tion include:

  • Weight: More than 2 in 5 (42%) Lati­no or His­pan­ic ages 10 to 17 are over­weight or obese, the high­est rate of all racial or eth­nic groups and well above the nation­al rate of 33%, accord­ing to the KIDS COUNT Data Book.
  • Health Insur­ance Cov­er­age: Near­ly 1 in 10 (9% in 2022) His­pan­ic or Lati­no chil­dren under age 19 lack health insur­ance, also high­er than the nation­al rate (5%). Cov­er­age is worse for youth and young adults ages 14 to 24. Almost 1 in 5 (18%) of Lati­no or His­pan­ic young peo­ple in this old­er age group were unin­sured in 20182022, com­pared to 11% of their peers nationwide.
  • Pover­ty: More than 1 in 5 (22%) His­pan­ic or Lati­no chil­dren live below the fed­er­al pover­ty lev­el, a fig­ure that exceed­ed the nation­al aver­age (16% in 2022) for decades. One in 10 lives in extreme pover­ty, which means below 50% of the fed­er­al pover­ty thresh­old ($29,678 for a fam­i­ly of two adults and two kids in 2022).
  • Low-Income: Since fam­i­lies can earn well over the fed­er­al pover­ty thresh­old and still strug­gle to meet basic needs, it is help­ful to con­sid­er those liv­ing below 200% of the pover­ty lev­el, which is con­sid­ered low-income. In 2022, In 2022, 50% of Lati­no or His­pan­ic kids lived in low-income fam­i­lies, com­pared to 37% nationwide.
  • Secure Parental Employ­ment: Almost 1 in 3 (31%) His­pan­ic or Lati­no kids had par­ents who lacked secure jobs in 2022, above the nation­al aver­age (26%) but an improve­ment from a decade ago in 2012 (38%).
  • Par­ents With­out a High School Degree: Pro­vid­ing more con­text for the find­ings relat­ed to finan­cial and employ­ment hard­ship, the KIDS COUNT Data Book report­ed that Lati­no or His­pan­ic kids are the most like­ly to live with a head of house­hold who lacks a high school diplo­ma (25% in 2022), more than twice the nation­al rate (11%).
  • Medi­an Income: The medi­an annu­al income for fam­i­lies of His­pan­ic or Lati­no ori­gin ($63,500 in 2022) con­tin­ues to be far below the nation­al aver­age ($91,100), as well as that of white ($109,400) and Asian and Pacif­ic Islander fam­i­lies ($133,700).Median Family Income by Race and Ethnicity 2022
  • Hous­ing Cost Bur­dens: His­pan­ic or Lati­no kids are more like­ly to live in house­holds with high hous­ing cost bur­dens, mean­ing more than 30% of month­ly income goes to hous­ing expens­es, com­pared to the U.S. aver­age: (39% ver­sus 30%, respec­tive­ly), in 2022.
  • Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion: Young Lati­no or His­pan­ic kids ages 3 and 4 are less like­ly to attend preschool (61% not enrolled) com­pared to their peers nation­al­ly (54%) or in oth­er racial or eth­nic groups, accord­ing to 201822 data in the KIDS COUNT Data Book. High-qual­i­ty child care and preschool pro­grams set the stage for child devel­op­ment, well-being and learn­ing — they are par­tic­u­lar­ly ben­e­fi­cial for chil­dren from low-income households.
  • Read­ing and Math Pro­fi­cien­cy: Although much improved from two decades ago, read­ing and math pro­fi­cien­cy rates — key indi­ca­tors of future aca­d­e­m­ic and employ­ment suc­cess — for His­pan­ic or Lati­no stu­dents remain well below nation­al lev­els, as report­ed in the KIDS COUNT Data Book. In 2022, just 1 in 5 (20%) of these fourth graders achieved pro­fi­cien­cy in read­ing, and 1 in 7 (14%) eighth graders were pro­fi­cient in math, com­pared to 32% and 26%, respec­tive­ly, nationwide. 
  • High School Grad­u­a­tion: Between 201314 and 202122, stu­dents who are Lati­no or His­pan­ic made sub­stan­tial gains on the key bench­mark of grad­u­at­ing from high school on time — improv­ing from 76% to 83%. Still, dis­par­i­ties endure, with the rate remain­ing below the U.S. grad­u­a­tion rate of 87% in 202122.
  • Chil­dren in Immi­grant Fam­i­lies: Lati­no or His­pan­ic kids in immi­grant fam­i­lies face many bar­ri­ers to oppor­tu­ni­ty, accord­ing to the Race for Results report. For exam­ple, just 8% of these fourth-grade stu­dents in immi­grant fam­i­lies were read­ing pro­fi­cient­ly in 2022, less than three times the rate (29%) of their peers in U.S.-born fam­i­lies. Lati­no or His­pan­ic kids in immi­grant fam­i­lies are also more like­ly to live with a house­hold­er who lacks a high school diplo­ma: 40% ver­sus 16% among those in U.S.-born fam­i­lies, accord­ing to 201721 data. Read more about U.S. chil­dren in immi­grant fam­i­lies.

These rep­re­sent a small selec­tion of find­ings for His­pan­ic or Lati­no kids, youth and fam­i­lies. You can access 100+ mea­sures by race and eth­nic­i­ty relat­ed to demo­graph­ics, eco­nom­ics, fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty issues, edu­ca­tion, health and safe­ty on the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter.

Build­ing Stronger His­pan­ic and Lati­no Communities 

Pol­i­cy­mak­ers, fun­ders, advo­cates and oth­er lead­ers can use these data to increase aware­ness and sup­port for His­pan­ic or Lati­no chil­dren and fam­i­lies, strength­en pro­grams and poli­cies and ensure that they have equi­table access to the oppor­tu­ni­ties and resources need­ed to thrive. Evi­dence-based exam­ples to pro­vide a path to suc­cess include:

  • Expand­ing fed­er­al and state child tax cred­its and earned income tax cred­its for low-income families;
  • Strength­en­ing oth­er safe­ty net pro­grams, like food and hous­ing assistance; 
  • Pro­vid­ing broad access to afford­able and culturally/​linguistically appro­pri­ate ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion pro­grams, fam­i­ly sup­port ser­vices and men­tal health care — espe­cial­ly in under-resourced neighborhoods; 
  • Reduc­ing per­sis­tent gaps in income and wealth by race by design­ing long-term pub­lic pro­grams to help fam­i­lies pro­vide for their children’s future, such as baby bond pro­pos­als” described in the Race for Results report;
  • Ensur­ing that all fam­i­lies have access to high-qual­i­ty, afford­able health insur­ance and health care, e.g., expand­ing Med­ic­aid cov­er­age; and 
  • Max­i­miz­ing two-gen­er­a­tion com­mu­ni­ty approach­es that improve the qual­i­ty of child care and schools for kids — par­tic­u­lar­ly in low-income com­mu­ni­ties — and help par­ents with their own edu­ca­tion, job skills and oth­er needs.

Despite the many strengths of Lati­no fam­i­lies and areas in which these chil­dren and youth have made progress over the last two decades, stub­born obsta­cles remain that under­mine the chances for these young peo­ple to suc­ceed. Our nation can — and must — do more to remove the hur­dles they dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly encounter on the road to adulthood.

Explore More Resources Relat­ed to His­pan­ic and Lati­no Chil­dren and Youth

Sign Up For Our Newslet­ters To Get The Lat­est Data and Resource

*Because the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment con­sid­ers Lati­no or His­pan­ic an eth­nic­i­ty, chil­dren in this group can be of any racial category.

Popular Posts

View all blog posts   |   Browse Topics

Youth with curly hair in pink shirt

blog   |   June 3, 2021

Defining LGBTQ Terms and Concepts

A mother and her child are standing outdoors, each with one arm wrapped around the other. They are looking at each other and smiling. The child has a basketball in hand.

blog   |   August 1, 2022

Child Well-Being in Single-Parent Families