New census data released by the Iowa Data Center shows the Latino population in Iowa increased by 116 percent from 2000 to 2015 which is 96,147 people.
Latinos make up 5.7 percent of Iowa’s population, making them the largest minority group in the state. Thirty-two percent of the Latinos in Iowa were not born in this county. Seventy-eight percent of them came to Iowa from Mexico.
The median age of Latinos in Iowa is 22.2, while the state median age is 38.1. The median income of Latino households in 2015 was a little more than $38,000, while the statewide median household income was $54,736.
The poverty rate was 25.6 percent, while the corresponding rate for Iowa is 12.2 percent. The average family size for the Iowa Latino population in 2015 was 3.82, compared to the overall average family size in the state of 2.99
Over half of the growth in Iowa’s Latino population from 2000-2015 occurred in seven counties: Polk, Woodbury, Johnson, Marshall, Scott, Pottawattamie, and Linn. Polk County had the largest overall population of Latinios at 21.4 percent.
The Latino population in Ringgold increased by 731 percent and by 652 percent in Lyon county between 2000 and 2015. When it comes to the overall population, 27.4 percent of all residents of Crawford County were Latino, followed by Buena Vista (24.6%), Marshall (20.7%), Muscatine (17.5%), and Louisa (16.2%).
You can find out more at the Iowa Date Center’s website.