Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In this paper we examine the spatial mobility of Hispanics in the U.S. from 1970 to 2016. We disaggregate by the four U.S. census regions, namely Northeast, Midwest, West, and South. Hispanics are composed of seven groups: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, South Americans and Other Hispanics. Spatial mobility includes intrastate, interstate and residential. Emphasis is given to the central city and suburban locations of Hispanics. Our results show that Hispanics are very different groups depending on which region they are, and they have distinct socioeconomic patterns. However, we consistently find that Hispanics have increasingly suburbanized from 1970 to 2016. While roughly equal numbers of Hispanics live in cities and suburbs in the Northeast, more Hispanics live in suburbs than the cities in the Midwest. Moreover, a larger percentage of Hispanics are in poverty compared to White non-Hispanics. This raises concerns about suburban poverty. We estimate regression models to predict labor market and residential outcomes as a means of identifying likely barriers to the Hispanic socioeconomic mobility.