Educational Attainment in New and Established Latino Metropolitan Destinations

Katherine C. Stamps, Pennsylvania State University
Stephanie A. Bohon, University of Georgia

Over the last twenty years, Latino migration streams have shifted from a few cities with concentrated Latino populations to include many new destinations across the country. This paper examines the educational attainment of Latinos in these established and emerging Latino immigrant gateways. Statistical analysis of 32,361 Latino respondents in 16 established metropolitan areas and 15 new destinations were compared using the 5% Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample. Interestingly, educational attainment was found to be significantly higher in new Latino destinations than in established Latino metropolitan areas, although much of these differences are mediated by demographic factors. OLS and logistic regression results suggest that English proficiency, ethnicity, and citizenship status account for a substantial portion of the differences in educational attainment between destination types.