LOS ANGELES – An estimated 1.4 million or 4.3 percent of Latino/a adults identify as LGBT and 29 percent of Latino/a same-sex couples are raising children, according to a report released this week by the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles.
The estimated 146,100 Latino/a individuals in same-sex couples tend to live in areas where there are higher proportions of Latinos/as. A third of Latino/a same-sex couples live in New Mexico, California, and Texas.
Nationally, Latino/a individuals in same-sex couples are faring better than Latinos/as in different-sex couples. Twenty-six percent of all Latinos/as in same-sex couples have completed a college degree or more, compared to 14 percent of Latinos/as in different-sex couples.
But the data evidence that there are subgroups within the Latino/a LGBT community that are more socioeconomically vulnerable.
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Reported median household incomes for Latino/a same-sex couples raising children are 20% below the incomes of same-sex Latino/a couples without children.
Latina/female same-sex couples also make close to $15,000 less than Latino/male same-sex couples and have lower rates of college completion.
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Latino/a individuals in same-sex couples are also more likely to be born in the U.S. than Latino/a individuals in different sex couples (59% versus 37%) and more likely to be a U.S. citizen than their counterparts in different-sex couples (80% versus 62%).
However, one in seven Latino/a same-sex couples are binational (include one citizen and one non-citizen).
The top three countries of origin reported for Latino/a individuals in same-sex couples born outside the U.S. are Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba.
