Characteristics of the South American Born in the United States

Characteristics of the South American Born in the United States (click to view)

The South American-born make up a small proportion of both the overall foreign-born population and the Latin American-born population in the United States. However, the number of immigrants born in South America has grown rapidly over the past 30 years.  

As a group, the foreign-born from South American countries are about as likely to be proficient in English and have university degrees as the overall foreign-born population. However, they are slightly more likely to participate in the labor force and to work in sales and office or service occupations. Yet closer examination of this population reveals a great deal of variation by country of birth.  

The Spotlight draws primarily from Census 2000 data, including social, economic and housing profiles of the foreign-born developed by the US Census Bureau. 

Characteristics of the South American Born in the United States (click to view)