2/15/2013
Second-generation adults are more likely than their immigrant parents to marry outside their race/ethnicity, to feel that they get along well with people from other racial/ethnic groups, and to consider themselves “typical Americans,” according to the Pew Research Center.
More than nine tenths of growth (93%) in the working-age U.S. population through 2050 will come from immigrants and their U.S.-born children. Most first-generation immigrants are Asian or Hispanic (or both, since Hispanics may be of any race). About half of second-generation Americans are Hispanic and/or Asian.
The majority of Hispanics and Asians are immigrants, although the proportion of Hispanics who are U.S.-born is rising rapidly. Almost nine in 10 Blacks, on the other hand, are third-generation or higher.
Education And Income
Second-generation Hispanic Americans are almost twice as likely as first-generation immigrants to have bachelor’s degrees or more education (21% vs. 11%). Second-generation Asians are only slightly more likely than first-generation immigrants to have bachelor’s degrees or more education (55% vs. 50%).
Second-generation Hispanic Americans have higher median household incomes than their first-generation counterparts – $48,400 (for a three-person household) vs. $34,600. First- and second-generation Asian Americans have similar median household incomes ($65,200 and $67,500, respectively), but the median household income of third-generation or higher Asian Americans is significantly higher – $91,600.
Median household income among Blacks is lowest among those who are third-generation or higher – $37,600, compared to $43,500 among second-generation and $46,500 among first-generation immigrants. Educational attainment peaks among second-generation Black Americans – 40% have college degrees or more education, compared to 31% of immigrants and 20% of those who are third-generation or higher.
Marriage And Family
A third of married second-generation Hispanics have foreign-born spouses, while only 17% of first-generation Hispanic immigrants have U.S.-born spouses.
Second-generation Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are more likely than first-generation immigrants to live in multigenerational households. More than a third of second-generation Black adults (34%), 30% of second-generation Hispanics, and 29% of second-generation Asians live in multigenerational households.
Second-generation Black Americans have the youngest median age of any racial/ethnic group, at 27. Second-generation Hispanic Americans have a median age of 34, and second-generation Asian Americans have a median age of 30.
Half of second-generation Hispanic Americans (50%) can speak their ancestral language “very well,” compared to only 18% of second-generation Asian Americans.
Source: “Second-Generation Americans: A Portrait of the Children of Immigrants,” February 2013, Pew Research Center, Paul Taylor, EVP, 1615 L St., NW, #700, Washington, DC 20036; 202-419-4300; info@pewhispanic.org; www.pewhispanic.org. Price: Available online at no charge.
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