In 2000, the 35.3 million Hispanics in the United States represented 12.5 percent of the nation's population, a nearly 60-percent increase from 1990.
The Hispanic population continues to be concentrated in the Southwest and Northeast; however, between 1990 and 2000, there was significant Hispanic population growth in states not traditionally associated with Hispanic communities, such as Arkansas, Iowa, and Mississippi. Arkansas, for example, saw a 344-percent increase in its Hispanic population.