U.S. Hispanics of Ecuadorian Origin in the United States, 2007 -
total of 523,000 Hispanics of Ecuadorian origin resided in the United
States in 2007, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community
Survey. Ecuadorians in this statistical profile are people who
self-identified as Hispanics of Ecuadorian origin; this means either
they themselves are Ecuadorian immigrants or they trace their family
ancestry to Ecuador. Ecuadorians are the ninth-largest population of
Hispanic origin living in the United States, accounting for 1.2% of the
U.S. Hispanic population in 2007.
This statistical profile compares the demographic, income and
economic characteristics of the Ecuadorian population with the
characteristics of all Hispanics and the U.S. population overall. It is
based on Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the 2007 American Community
Survey. Key facts include:
Immigration status. Two-thirds of Ecuadorians (67.9%) in
the United States are foreign born compared with 39.8% of Hispanics and
12.6% of the U.S. population overall. Two-thirds of immigrants from
Ecuador (66.0%) arrived in the U.S. in 1990 or later. Four-in-ten
Ecuadorian immigrants (40.6%) are U.S. citizens.
Language. Less than half of Ecuadorians (47.4%) speak English
proficiently.2 Some 52.6% of Ecuadorians ages 5 and older report
speaking English less than very well, compared with 38.8% of all
Hispanics.
Age. Ecuadorians are younger than the U.S. population and older than
Hispanics overall. The median age of Ecuadorians is 30; the median ages
of the U.S. population and all Hispanics are 36 and 27, respectively.
Hispanics of Ecuadorian Origin in the United States, 2007
Marital status. Ecuadorians are more likely than Hispanics overall to be married—51.1% versus 47.3%.
Fertility. One-third (34.5%) of Ecuadorian women ages 15 to 44 who gave
birth in the 12 months prior to the survey were unmarried. That was
less than the rate for all Hispanic women—38.1%—and similar to the rate
for U.S. women—33.4%.
Regional dispersion. Two-thirds of Ecuadorians (66.4%) live in the
Northeast, and more than four-in-ten (42.9%) live in New York.
Educational attainment. Ecuadorians have higher levels of education
than the Hispanic population overall. Some 18.2% of Ecuadorians ages 25
and older—compared with 12.6% of all U.S. Hispanics—have obtained at
least a bachelor’s degree.
Income. The median annual personal earnings for Ecuadorians ages 16 and
older were $21,655 in 2007; the median earnings for all U.S. Hispanics
were $21,048.
Poverty status. The share of Ecuadorians who live in poverty, 14.8%, is
higher than the rate for the general U.S. population (11.9%) and below
the 19.5% share among all Hispanics.
Homeownership. The rate of Ecuadorian homeownership (41.8%) is lower
than the rate for all Hispanics (49.9%) and the U.S. population (67.2%)
as a whole.
About the Data - This statistical profile of Hispanics of Ecuadorian
origin is based on the Census Bureau's 2007 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 2007 ACS Integrated Public Use Microdata
Series (IPUMS), representing a 1% sample of the U.S. population.
