Cubans in the United States

BY ANDRES GOMEZ—Editor of Areítodigital

WASHINGTON D.C—Some1, 448,684 of us Cubans live in the United States according to a 2004 study by the U.S. Census Bureau titled “American Community Survey”. The Census Bureau considered as Cubans those born in Cuba and their descendents born in the United States. Of these, an estimated 912,686 (63%) were born in Cuba and 535,998 (37%) are their U.S. born decedents.

Thus we are nearly 4% of the total 40.5 million Latin Americans living here. The results of this census were published in a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center, a reputable research center that studies the Latin American community in the United States, and titled: “Cubans in the United States.”

Of the close to 913,000 Cubans who were born in Cuba, 431, 429 (30%) arrived in this country before 1980; 171 798 (12%) came between 1980 and 1990; and 309,459 (21.4%) from 1990 to 2004, the year of the census. To this last figure at least another 40,000 must be added corresponding to the 20,000 minimum that annually emigrate to the United States legally, as stipulated in the Migratory Agreements in force between the two governments. The remaining 37% are U.S. descendents.

The average age of the U.S. Cuban population is 41, much older than the average age of the rest of the U.S. Hispanic population (Latin Americans and their descendents) which is 27, and the average of the general U.S. population, which is 36.The average age of U.S-born descendents is estimated at 18.5 years; of Cubans arriving before 1980, 63; of those arriving between 1980 and 1990, 50; and of those arriving between 1990 and 2004, 38.

More than two-thirds (around 990,000) of Cubans in the United States live in Florida. Other states with large Cuban populations are New Jersey (81,000), New York (78,000), California (74,000) and Texas (34,000). Surprisingly, according to this study, 1,356 live in distant and freezing Alaska and another 1,886 in the remote but sunny islands of Hawaii.

Cubans also live in other isolated areas of the country; for example, there are 246 in Montana; no less than 13,000 in the Nevada desert; and 200 and 62, respectively, in the remote states of North Dakota and Wyoming,.Officially, according to this study, there are only two states where no Cubans live. These are South Dakota and Arkansas, although I’ll bet that if you looked real hard, you would find a Cuban living there¼ and perhaps more than one.

According to the study, 25% of U.S. Cubans over the age of 25 are university graduates. That is double the percentage of other Hispanics (12%), although lower than that of non-Hispanic whites (30%). Among the Cuban population, 39% of those born in the United States are university graduates, compared to 22% of those born in Cuba.

Of those born in Cuba, the group with the highest number of university graduates (26%) are those who arrived between 1990 and 2004, followed by those who immigrated before 1980 (24%), and out of those who left the island between 1980 and 1990, only 13% are university graduates.

The average annual wage of the Cuban population is $38,000, higher than that of other Hispanics ($36,000), but less than that of non-Hispanics ($48 mil). Among those born in Cuba, this average wage is $38,000 for Cubans arriving before 1980; $33,000 for those immigrating between 1990 and 2004; and $30,000 for those arriving between 1980 and 1990.

Nevertheless, 13% of Cubans under 18 years of age are living in poverty; as well as 11% of those between the ages of 18 and 64, although this is lower than the figure for other Hispanics living in poverty in these age categories: 27% and17%, respectively.But the situation becomes worse for Cubans over 64. Of this age group 24% are living in poverty as opposed to only 18% of other Hispanics and 7% of non-Hispanic whites.

The figure is even worse for elderly Cubans who were born in Cuba: for those aged over 64 who arrived before 1980, 20% are living in poverty; between 1990 and 2004, 36%; and shamefully, four out of every 10 Cubans (39%) over 64 who migrated between 1980 and 1990 are living in poverty.The study by the Pew Hispanic Center maintains, as we all know, that the high incidence of Cuban obtaining U.S. citizenship reflects their special migratory status.

Nearly 60% of the Cuban population has acquired U.S. citizenship, double that of other Hispanics (26%). Ninety percent of Cubans who emigrated before 1980 are U.S. citizens, compared to 60% of those coming between 1980 and 1990, and only 18% of those who arrived between 1990 and el 2004.Cubans and their descendents make up 6% of all Hispanic registered voters. The study indicates that 28% of those consider themselves Republicans, 20% Democrats and 27% politically independent.

Finally and significantly, the Census Bureau study demonstrates that in 2004, 56% of Cubans were in support of dialogue between the United States and the Cuban government to resolve existing conflicts between the countries. A clear rejection of the intransigent and inhumane posture of the Cuban American ultra-right.