Washington Population
Washington State’s Latin American population has experienced significant growth since the arrival of Latin Americans into the Columbia River basin some
200 years ago. The basis for the larger influx of Latin Americans into Washington began in the 1940s, when economic and labor industries in Washington began to boom. Starting in 1970, Latinos have been the largest minority population in Washington State. However, the most rapid growth in this population has been in the latter part of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. Between 1990 and 2000, the Latin American population in Washington doubled from 206,018 to 439,841 persons, with the percentage of the population increasing from 4.4 percent in 1990 to 7.5 percent in 2000. As of 2004, an estimated
77.000 Latin Americans have been added to Washington’s overall population. In Washington State, the Latin American population now constitutes approximately 8.4 percent of the total population.
