Table 2:

Characteristics of Mexican Immigrants in the United States by Destination Type, NHIS 1990–2009

	Foreign-born Mexicans			US-born Mexicans
	Traditional	New	Minor	Traditional	New	Minor
n	46,237 (74%)	8,641 (14%)	7,520 (12%)	32,796 (73%)	5,917 (13%)	6,022 (13%)
Percent Men	49.8%	55.5% *	54.2% *	46.0%	46.7%	46.9%
Mean Age	41.6	38.0 *	40.8 *	43.8	42.8 *	44.0
Mean Family Size	4.5	4.2 *	4.1 *	3.6	3.3 *	3.4 *
Marital Status
Married	74.2%	73.0% *	76.8% *	60.9%	62.2% *	65.2% *
Divorced/Separated	8.8	8.8	8.1 *	15.8	16.5	15.6
Widowed	4.0	2.0 *	3.4 *	5.2	3.9 *	5.3
Never Married	13.0	16.3 *	11.7 *	18.1	17.3	13.9 *
Education
Less than High School	67.4%	64.9% *	70.1% *	28.2%	23.7% *	34.0% *
High School	19.5	23.6 *	18.5 *	36.0	38.8 *	36.0 *
Some College	9.4	7.3 *	7.4 *	26.0	24.3 *	22.0 *
College Degree	3.7	4.2 *	4.0	9.8	13.2 *	8.0 *
Employment Status
Employed	64.2%	70.8% *	65.2% *	66.4%	70.6% *	66.7%
Unemployed	3.5	4.1 *	3.7	3.3	3.2	3.7
Not in Labor Force	32.3	25.1 *	31.2 *	30.2	26.2 *	29.6
Family Income
Below Poverty Line	33.2%	32.8%	36.4% *	17.9%	14.8% *	22.0% *
100%–199% of Poverty Line	35.1	33.1 *	34.8	24.0	22.0 *	27.0 *
200%–399% of Poverty Line	24.5	27.4 *	23.3	35.5	39.6 *	35.0 *
400%+ of Poverty Line	7.1	6.7	5.5 *	22.6	23.6 *	16.1 *
Duration of Residence in US
<5 years	8.9%	16.8% *	14.0% *	N/A	N/A	N/A
5–10 years	14.7	21.7 *	18.0 *
10–15 years	16.1	19.3 *	15.9
15+ years	54.2	38.2 *	48.5 *
Unknown duration	6.1	4.0 *	3.6 *

Notes: Destination type classified according to Hall’s (2013) scheme based on 1970–2000 PUMS

^*Different from Traditional destinations at p<0.05 level.

Source: 1990–2009 pooled restricted-use NHIS