When mapping Hispanic and Latino race in the United States you will find that a grand portion of them are found in the south west. There are large clusters lined up next to the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California are the most densely populated with Hispanics and Latinos. When looking north towards the Midwest and Appalachia it is easy to see that the population of Hispanics has dropped significantly. Farther north towards the east coast some states such as Philadelphia, New York and Massachusetts are slightly more populated with Latinos and Hispanics. Towards the south (excluding Texas) the percentage of Hispanics and Latinos are also very low. However, the most southern tip of Florida is heavily populated with them.
The clusters of Hispanic and Latino population in the south west could very possibly be because the fact that these states are all along the U.S. and Mexico border. As more illegal immigrants come into the country from Mexico the denser the population of Hispanics becomes in the states close to the border. Another contributing factor could be the presence of jobs for illegal immigrants in the south west. There is more labor for them where help is needed the most, not to mention the fact that their employers do not seem to pay them minimum wage because of their lack of citizenship. The lack of Hispanics and Latinos in the Midwest and Appalachia could be blamed on mere distance from the border and the lack of easily found jobs.
The locations of population clusters pertaining the Hispanic and Latino heritage could greatly impact the availability of jobs. Such as the south west, where large amounts of illegal immigrants from mexico live and work for low paying jobs. The employers of these people will typically choose to hire them if it means that they don’t have to pay them as much, which results in the loss of a job for an American citizen. This plays out to a large number of unemployed U.S. citizens, while illegal immigrants have a job working for a lower wage. Many times illegal immigrants are looking for work to send money back to their loved ones, which becomes more difficult the more you stray from the border, hence the lack of Hispanic population in the north of the U.S. The farther north they travel, the harder it is to return home. This may not be a large factor, but, the north has a much different climate than Mexico and other Hispanic countries and it is very likely that they could just dislike the climate the farther off the sunbelt.
