Low-Income Families in the Spanish-Surname Population of the Southwest

Excerpts from the report Highlights and Introduction: The 3.5 million Spanish-surname people of five Southwestern States (Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas) represented 12 percent of the total population of that area in 1960. Although predominantly rural only a few decades ago, the Spanish-surname population as a whole has become one of the most urban ethnic groups in the United States. In the Southwest, it was nearly 80 percent urban in 1960. The Spanish-surname population of the Southwest contains many low-income families and has unsolved social and economic problems. This report focuses attention on the characteristics of these families which are associated with the special nature of their problems, so that there may be better understanding of them.