V Encuentro Proceedings and Conclusions

Proceedings and Conclusions of the V National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry | 203 Appendix E The Census Bureau also reports certain economic statistics on the basis of families and house- holds. It defines a family as “a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adop- tion and residing together.” Thus, for statistical purposes, children who do not live with their parents are not included in measures of family size, but grandparents or other relatives who live in the same residence are included. Since the poverty level is also defined by family size, this also plays a role in the statistics about poverty level. In contrast, household income is a measure of all income sources for people living within the household, whether or not they are related as a family, and it is not dependent on household size. CITIZENSHIP, NATIONAL HERITAGE, AND DECADE OF ENTRY The American Community Survey tracks citizenship status and decade of entry for all residents who respond to the survey. Since the United States has birthright citizenship, it is enlighten- ing to compare the percentage of Hispanic children born in the United States, versus that of adults. Roughly 22% of all Hispanics/Latinos are not citizens—which does not mean that they are undocumented, since many are here as legal non-citizen permanent residents or with a current visa—but that figure is only about 5% for Hispanic children. Among Hispanic adults, only about 6% have arrived since 2010. People of Mexican heritage constitute the vast majority (63%) of Hispanics in the country. Notably, the 5% of “others” includes many people whose families have been in the U.S. for ten or more generations, and who either describe themselves as being of Spanish heritage (i.e. from Spain), or simply “other.” Average Family Size: 4.2 Average Family Size: 3.4