Cinco de Mayo celebrates the legendary Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, in which a Mexican force of 4,500 men faced 6,000 well-trained men of the French Army. The battle lasted four hours and ended in a victory for the Mexican Army under Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. Along with Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16, Cinco de Mayo has become a time to celebrate Mexican heritage and culture.

26.8 million
Number of U.S. residents of Mexican origin in 2005. These residents constituted 9 percent of the nation’s total population.

16.9 million
Number of people of Mexican origin who lived either in California (10.4 million) or Texas (6.6 million). People of Mexican origin made up more than one-quarter of the residents of these two states. (The total for California and Texas combined is less than 17 million because of rounding.)

25.5
Median age of people in the United States of Mexican descent. This compares with 36.4 years for the population as a whole.

609,000
Number of Mexican-American civilians 18 and older who were military veterans.

1.1 million
Number of people of Mexican descent 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher. This includes more than 300,000 who have a graduate degree.

36%
Among households where a householder was of Mexican origin, the percentage consisting of a married-couple family with own children younger than 18. For all households, the corresponding percentage was 22 percent.

4.0
Average size for families with a householder of Mexican origin. This compares to 3.2 people in all families.

14%
Percentage of employed civilians 16 and older of Mexican heritage who worked in managerial, professional or related occupations. In addition, 24 percent worked in service occupations; 20 percent in sales and office occupations; 19 percent in construction, extraction, maintenance and repair occupations; and 21 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations.

$35,464
Median household income in 2005 for households with a householder of Mexican origin.

23.8%
Poverty rate in 2005 for people of Mexican heritage for whom poverty status is determined.

69%
Percentage of civilians 16 and older of Mexican origin in the labor force. The percentage was 66 percent for the population as a whole. There were 12.2 million people of Mexican heritage in the labor force, comprising 8 percent of the total labor force.

50%
Percentage of householders of Mexican origin who owned the home in which they lived.

(Source for the preceding statements: 2005 American Community Survey. Figures do not include people living in group quarters.)

Trade With Mexico

$332.4 billion
The value of goods traded between the United States and Mexico in 2006. Mexico was our nation’s third-leading trading partner, after Canada and China. <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/>

Businesses

701,078
Number of firms owned by people of Mexican descent in 2002. They comprised 45 percent of all Hispanic-owned firms. Among these Mexican-owned firms, 275,896 were in California and 235,735 in Texas. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif., combined statistical area had 174,292.

$96.7 billion
Sales and receipts for firms owned by people of Mexican origin in 2002.

$18.9 billion
Sales and receipts for Mexican-owned firms in the retail trade sector in 2002, which led all sectors. Construction led all sectors in the number of such firms, with 116,290.

(Source for statements in this section: <http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/sb0200cshisp.pdf>)

Mexican Food

$100.4 million
Product shipment value of tamales and other Mexican food specialties produced in the United States in 2002. <http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/guide/INDRPT31.HTM>

337
Number of U.S. tortilla manufacturing establishments in 2004. The establishments that produce this unleavened flat bread employed nearly 14,000 people. Tortillas, the principal food of the Aztecs, are known as the “bread of Mexico.” Nearly one in three of these establishments was in Texas. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/county_business_patterns/006985.html>

Special Editions of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Facts for Features are issued to provide background information for lesser-known observances, anniversaries of historic events and other timely topics in the news.

Editor’s note: Some of the preceding data were collected from a variety of sources and may have been subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau’s Public Information Office at 301-763-3030; fax 301-763-3762; or e-mail <pio@census.gov>.