Mexican Population in United States by State : 2025 Ranking & Insights

According to U.S. Census estimates, all 50 states and the District of Columbia report a measurable Mexican population, totaling 37.4 million nationwide. California leads with 12.7 million residents, followed by Texas (9.5 million) and Arizona (1.9 million). This ranking examines how Mexican communities are distributed across the entire United States, highlighting regional patterns, cultural concentrations, and state-level differences.

Top 5 states with the largest Mexican population in United States

View All
  • 1
    California
    Mexican population in California is 12,657,515
    32.25% of California population is Mexican
  • 2
    Texas
    Mexican population in Texas is 9,543,153
    32.20% of Texas population is Mexican
  • 3
    Arizona
    Mexican population in Arizona is 1,946,282
    26.78% of Arizona population is Mexican
  • 4
    Illinois
    Mexican population in Illinois is 1,804,094
    14.21% of Illinois population is Mexican
  • 5
    Colorado
    Mexican population in Colorado is 915,399
    15.75% of Colorado population is Mexican

U.S. States by Mexican Population : National Rankings

View Methodology
American Community Survey data [1] show Mexican populations present across states nationwide, with the largest counts in California, Texas, Arizona, and Illinois. The table below provides additional context, including total population, population density, and demographic distributions based on current ACS data for all states included in this analysis*.
states in United States ranked by Mexican population count
Rank by Mexican Population
State
Mexican Population
% of Total State Population
% of Total United States Mexican Population
5 Year Rank Trend
1 California 12,657,515 32.25% 33.81%
2 Texas 9,543,153 32.20% 25.49%
3 Arizona 1,946,282 26.78% 5.20%
4 Illinois 1,804,094 14.21% 4.82%
5 Colorado 915,399 15.75% 2.44%
6 Washington 828,306 10.70% 2.21%
7 Florida 730,567 3.33% 1.95%
8 675,404 31.94% 1.80%
9 672,912 21.42% 1.80%
10 592,108 5.47% 1.58%
11 586,611 5.54% 1.57%
12 493,811 2.48% 1.32%
13 478,243 11.28% 1.28%
14 398,320 3.96% 1.06%
15 387,866 5.69% 1.04%
16 379,722 9.50% 1.01%
17 353,485 10.61% 0.94%
18 315,251 5.35% 0.84%
19 304,798 10.38% 0.81%
20 266,199 3.81% 0.71%
21 235,772 2.54% 0.63%
22 229,290 1.95% 0.61%
23 222,290 3.89% 0.59%
24 210,118 2.43% 0.56%
25 204,713 10.81% 0.55%
26 195,110 3.16% 0.52%
27 187,349 6.18% 0.50%
28 180,566 1.39% 0.48%
29 173,811 3.33% 0.46%
30 168,586 8.58% 0.45%
31 157,347 4.92% 0.42%
32 155,209 3.07% 0.41%
33 116,679 1.89% 0.31%
34 107,967 2.39% 0.29%
35 97,973 2.12% 0.26%
36 63,478 1.76% 0.17%
37 56,819 1.93% 0.15%
38 54,046 0.77% 0.14%
39 44,170 7.62% 0.12%
40 36,516 3.63% 0.10%
41 32,227 2.92% 0.09%
42 26,443 3.60% 0.07%
43 22,841 2.54% 0.06%
44 21,076 2.70% 0.06%
45 14,440 2.15% 0.04%
46 13,623 1.24% 0.04%
47 13,104 0.73% 0.04%
48 10,743 0.77% 0.03%
49 8,327 0.60% 0.02%
50 4,083 0.63% 0.01%
Need the complete table? Full rankings and the underlying data sets for California and other locations are available for purchase or license.

Methodology

This ranking list is based on data from the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS is one of the most reliable sources for understanding population trends across different locations, and it provides estimates for various racial and ethnic groups at city, county, state and all geography levels down to the Census block group.
This list ranks state in United States by their Mexican population, using the most recent ACS data available.

How the Census defines Mexican population

The U.S. Census Bureau allows people to self-identify their ancestry, meaning individuals can write upto ancestries when responding to the survey. In this ranking, we include everyone who identifies as having Mexican ancestry, whether alone or in combination with another ancestry.
Here are a few important things to know about how ancestry is reported:
  • Some people identify as Mexican alone, while others identify as Mexican along with another race (such as Mexican and German).
  • We’ve used the “Mexican alone or in any combination” category unless noted otherwise, which gives a broader picture of the Mexican population in each area.

How We Ranked the Data

This ranking is based on the total number of people who identified as Mexican alone or in combination in state. To provide additional context, we’ve also included two key percentages:
  1. % of Total State Population – This shows what percentage of the total state population identifies as Mexican .
  2. % of Total United States Mexican Population – This tells us how much of the entire U.S. Mexican population lives in that state.
To keep things simple, all population numbers have been rounded to the nearest whole number, and percentages are rounded to one decimal place. Because of rounding, some percentages may not add up to exactly 100%.

Things to Keep in Mind

Like all survey-based data, ACS estimates come with some limitations. Here are a few things to be aware of:
  • In places with very small Mexican populations, the numbers may not be reported at all due to privacy protections or sampling variability in the survey.
  • Since the ACS is based on a sample, the numbers are estimates, not exact counts. That means they may slightly differ from other sources like the decennial U.S. Census.
  • State that don’t have any reported Mexican population are not included in the ranking but are listed separately below for reference.
This ranking is meant to provide a clear, data-driven look at where Mexican populations are most concentrated while keeping the numbers easy to understand.

Sources

  1. 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.
  2. 2023.