Divergent Pathways to Assimilation? Local Marriage Markets and Intermarriage among U.S. Hispanics.

Abstract

The growing diversity of the U.S. population raises questions about integration among America's fastest growing minority population-Hispanics. The canonical view is that intermarriage with the native-born white population represents a singular pathway to assimilation, one that varies over geographic space in response to uneven local marital opportunities. Using data on past-year marriage from the 2009-2014 American Community Survey, we demonstrate high rates of intermarriage among Hispanics. Our analyses identify whether Hispanics marry co-ethnics, non-co-ethnic Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, or other minorities. We highlight variation by race, nativity, and socioeconomic status, but also reveal that Hispanics living in new immigrant destinations are more likely to intermarry than those living in traditional Hispanic gateways. Indeed, the higher out-marriage in new destinations disappears when the demographic context of reception is taken into account. Our analysis underscores that patterns of marital assimilation among Hispanics are neither monolithic nor expressed uniformly across geographic space.