U.S. Hispanics of Peruvian Origin in the United States, 2007 - A
total of 471,000 Hispanics of Peruvian origin resided in the United
States in 2007, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community
Survey. Peruvians in this statistical profile are people who
self-identified as Hispanics of Peruvian origin; this means either they
themselves are Peruvian immigrants or they trace their family ancestry
to Peru. Peruvians are the tenth-largest population of Hispanic origin
living in the United States, accounting for 1.0% of the U.S. Hispanic
population in 2007.
This statistical profile compares the demographic, income and
economic characteristics of the Peruvian 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. Three-in-four Peruvians (73.8%) 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
Peru (66.8%) arrived in the U.S. in 1990 or later. Four-in-ten Peruvian
immigrants (38.1%) are U.S. citizens.
Language. A majority
of Peruvians (51.3%) speak English proficiently.2 Some 48.7% of
Peruvians ages 5 and older report speaking English less than very well,
compared with 38.8% of all Hispanics.
Age. Peruvians are
similar in age to the U.S. population and older than Hispanics overall.
The median age of Peruvians is 35; the median ages of the U.S.
population and all Hispanics are 36 and 27, respectively.
Marital status. Peruvians are more likely than Hispanics overall to be married—50.3% versus 47.3%.
Fertility.
Three-in-ten (29.5%) Peruvian 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 the rate for U.S. women—33.4%.
Regional
dispersion. Peruvians are more geographically dispersed than other
Hispanic origin groups. Two-in-ten Peruvians (19.7%) live in Florida;
some one-in-six (17.2%) live in California and in New Jersey (16.0%).
Educational
attainment. Peruvians have higher levels of education than the Hispanic
population overall. Some 31.0% of Peruvians 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
Peruvians ages 16 and older were $24,286 in 2007; the median earnings
for all U.S. Hispanics were $21,048.
Poverty status. The
share of Peruvians who live in poverty, 10.9%, is similar to that of
the general U.S. population (11.9%) and below the 19.5% share among all
Hispanics.
Homeownership. The rate of Peruvian homeownership
(47.3%) 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 Peruvian
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.
