As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, St. Louis REALTORS® would like to highlight the growth and progress of the Hispanic community in wealth building and homeownership. To learn more about how the Hispanic community thrives in the US, check out this excerpt from NAHREP’s State of Hispanic Wealth Report.
The economic power of the Hispanic community in the US is indisputable. In 2021, the economic output, or gross domestic product (GDP), of US Latinos was $3.2 trillion.60 If US Latinos were an independent country, they would have the third fastest-growing GDP in the world, while the US economy overall would rank fifth.
As the youngest racial or ethnic group in the US, the majority of Latinos are only now aging into their prime earning years. These young adults have set their sights on wealth-building goals, including purchasing homes, starting businesses, and investing in various financial assets. As the cornerstone of wealth for most American families, homeownership is crucial to advancing the economic stance of the Hispanic community, but increasing homeownership rates among Latinos is also critical to the contemporary economy. The Urban Institute predicts that Latinos are the only racial or ethnic group that will increase homeownership rates between 2020 and 2040, while the rate for all other groups and Americans overall will decline.61 In fact, 70 percent of new homeowners during this time period are expected to be Hispanic.
The Hispanic community also strengthens the economy through business ownership and growth. Latinos start businesses at nearly twice the rate of their non-Hispanic white counterparts, and Latino-owned businesses have outpaced the revenue and payroll growth of white-owned businesses and American businesses at large.62 Latinos invest heavily in real estate and are highly entrepreneurial.
Latinos are currently the second largest racial or ethnic group in the US, and the Census Bureau predicts that between 2020 and 2060, the Hispanic community will account for 68 percent of population growth.63 As the population grows, so too does Latinos’ economic power. The Hispanic community is also expected to make up 64.8 percent of labor force growth in the next ten years.64 American economic prosperity is directly tied to the prosperity of Latinos, and supporting the growth of Hispanic wealth is in the interest of all Americans and the US economy.
