English or Espa?ol? Latino Immigrants’ English Proficiency and Migration Patterns
Maggie Bohm

Introduction
The goal is to investigate whether Latino immigrant’s English proficiency will influence their socioeconomic status and migration destinations. Latino immigrants are the fastest growing minority group in the US. By 2003, Latinos constituted approximately 14 percent of the US population, and are projected to reach 30 percent by 2050 (2000 Census). Through an analysis of US Census data (1990-2000) on non-citizen and naturalized Latino immigrant’s population growth and trends at the county level, OLS regression and spatial techniques are used to examine two hypotheses: (1) English speaking Latino immigrants are more likely to have higher socioeconomic status, and (2) English speaking Latino immigrants are less likely to reside in counties with other Latino immigrants. Accordingly, this paper questions whether speaking English and attaining higher education enables an increase in Latino immigrants’ social status. Family income, per capita and employment status were further discussed. Future implications and limitations will be addressed.

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