Hispanic Heritage Month kicks off as Latino impact on DC continues to grow
WASHINGTON, DC (7News) — Wednesday marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month and here in the nation’s capital, the diversity of different cultures from Latin America is expanding and increasing by the year.
It is a month to celebrate and recognize the achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans.
D.C.’s Latino population has been increasing steadily since the 1980s. More immigrants from Central and South America, along with the Caribbean, have settled in the area.
Hispanics are the third-largest minority group in D.C. The population of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the District as of July 2019 is 79,477, or 11.3% of its population.
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Latino immigrants in the District are predominantly from El Salvador, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic's largest ancestry group comes from El Salvador.
Salvadorans make up 25.1% of Hispanics in the region and 2.8% of the city's population. Dominicans follow with 11.6% of the Hispanic population and 1.3% of the city's population. Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Colombians round out the top 5 most represented Latin American nations.
Over 800,000 Latinos live in the Washington metropolitan area and they are prospering and succeeding at a much quicker rate than anywhere else in the country. One-fourth of Hispanic adults in D.C have at least a bachelor's degree, nearly double the national Latino average.
Latinos in the District have a median household income of nearly $61,000, the highest Latino income in the United States. In such a political city, this demographic is proving to be essential.
In a recent poll, 67% of Latinos said they were Democrats and 20% said they were Republicans. In the 2018 House of Representatives elections, 69% of Latinos voted Democratic, while 29% voted Republican.
Nationwide, Latinos cast 16.6 million votes in the 2020 presidential election, an increase of 30.9% over the 2016 presidential election.
Currently, there are 47 members of the 116th U.S. Congress who are Latino or Hispanic Americans. 40 of these members are Representatives in the United States House of Representatives, four of them are members of the U.S. Senate, and the three members are territorial delegates.
Eight Latin American nations celebrate their independence in September. Here's the full list:
- Argentina, July 9
- Bolivia, Aug. 6
- Chile, Sept. 18
- Colombia, July 20
- Costa Rica, Sept. 15
- Cuba, May 20
- Dominican Republic, Feb. 27
- El Salvador, Sept. 15
- Guatemala, Sept. 15
- Honduras, Sept. 15
- Mexico, Sept. 16
- Nicaragua, Sept. 15
- Panama, Nov. 3
- Paraguay, May 14
- Peru, July 28
- Uruguay, Aug. 25
- Venezuela, July 5
Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct.15.
