In the early 1990s, I sat down with Dr. David Hayes-Bautista at UCLA to talk about a provocative book he had just published: The Burden of Support. At the time, the national conversation about Latinos in America was dominated by deficit thinking — stories about immigration “burdens,” overtaxed systems, and strained schools. But Hayes-Bautista was looking at the numbers, and he saw something very different: a young, growing, working population that would soon be critical to the nation’s survival.
He was right. And now the data has caught up to the vision.
This week, a new report from UCLA and California Lutheran University confirms a demographic milestone: for the first time in U.S. history, one in five people living in the United States identifies as Latino. That’s more than 68 million Americans, a full 2 million more than just a year ago.
Back in 1988, Hayes-Bautista had predicted that the Latino population might reach 58.8 million by 2024. In hindsight, he now says, “Obviously we were too conservative.” No kidding.
An Economic Force, Not a Footnote
But this isn’t just about headcounts — it’s about horsepower.
These findings build upon April’s 2025 U.S. Latino GDP Report, which revealed that the U.S. Latino GDP reached $4.1 trillion, officially making it the fifth-largest economy in the world. Yes, you read that right — larger than the entire economy of India.
And that’s not all. Since 2019, Latino GDP has grown faster than China’s — the fastest growth among all major economies on the planet.
That growth is powered by 35.1 million Latino workers, a labor force that’s expanded 7.2 times faster than the non-Latino workforce since 2010. Just last year alone, the Latino labor force grew by 5.5%, far outpacing the 1.3% growth among non-Latinos.
“Time and time again, we find that hard work, self-sufficiency, optimism and perseverance are the characteristics that underly the strength and resilience of U.S. Latinos,” said Matthew Fienup, executive director of the Center for Economic Research & Forecasting.
From Prediction to Policy
The Latino GDP Project, the engine behind these reports, is a multi-disciplinary initiative that has now published eight consecutive annual reports. Its core finding is unmistakable: the overall vitality of the U.S. economy is directly tied to the growth, labor, and spending power of U.S. Latinos.
“By supporting this population, we believe these same characteristics will continue to drive growth in the overall U.S. economy for years to come,” Fienup added.
This confirms what Hayes-Bautista told me decades ago: Latinos aren’t a burden — they’re the support.
That narrative shift still hasn’t fully registered in every corner of the political or media landscape, but the numbers are now irrefutable. This isn’t a trend. This is the foundation.
And while some still argue about border walls and quotas, the real story is happening in schools, job sites, homes, and boardrooms across the country — where Latino workers, families, and entrepreneurs are building the very future we once debated.
That future didn’t just arrive.
It showed up early.