A Demographic Portrait of the Mexican-Origin Population in Nebraska

Lissette Aliaga-Linares, University of Nebraska at Omaha

Abstract

Traditionally, the Mexican-origin population in the United States resided in the Southwest, a former Mexican territory annexed to the United States in 1848. Approximately 100,000 Spanish-speaking people lived in this territory before the creation of California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado (Grajeda 1998). While a large proportion of the Mexican-origin population still resides within these states, a greater geographical dispersion of the Mexican-origin population started around 1990. Yet, even if the numbers were never particularly large, in some of these so-called new destinations, such as the case of Nebraska, the presence of the Mexican-origin population has a long history.