North Carolina has the fastest growing Latino population in the country.
According to the US Census, the Latino population in North Carolina has grown 394%, from 76,726 in 1990 to 378,963 in 2000.2 Latinos now make up 4.7% of the North Carolina population in comparison to 1.04% in 1990.3 Other sources estimate the population to be even larger, with numbers closer to 530,328 in 2002.4Many terms are used to refer to the richly diverse Hispanic/Latino communities. No consensus has emerged among the Hispanic/Latino community on which term to use.

Most of the Latinos in North Carolina are of Mexican origin (65.1%).7 Puerto Ricans (who are US citizens) comprise 8.2% of the North Carolina Latino population, and Cubans or Cuban-Americans are 1.9%. The remaining 24.8% are from other Central or South American countries, or other Hispanic categories.

Nearly two-thirds of the North Carolina Latino population are foreign-born (64.2%) (Table 2:1). Almost all of North Carolina’s foreign-born Latinos are non-citizens (58.3%); only 5.9% have been naturalized.

North Carolina Latinos are younger than the general population. The median age of all people living in North Carolina is 35.3 years whereas the median age of Latinos is 24.

Via / The North Carolina Institute of Medicine