This report is based primarily on the 1960 Census of Population with some 1950 Census data included for comparative purposes and contains data on the social and economic characteristics of the major ethnic groups of the five Southwestern States of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. The major ethnic groups for which most of these data are presented are white persons of Spanish surname, "other whites," Negroes, and American Indians. Some detail is also shown for the Japanese and Chinese.

All of these ethnic groups in the Southwestern States grew substantially between 1950 and 1960. Persons of Spanish surname increased by 51 percent to a total of 3, 465,000 persons, Negroes increased by 45 percent to a total of 2,171,000 persons, Indians increased by 43 percent to a total of 189,000 persons, and "other whites" increased by 37 percent to a total of 23,111,000 persons (table 1).

The population of these ethnic groups was not evenly distributed among the five States in 1960. California and Texas were the most populous, containing 86 percent of the total population of the five States, 95 percent of the Negroes, 87 percent of the "other whites," and 82 percent of the persons of Spanish surname. The Japanese and Chinese were both concentrated in California with over 92 percent of both races residing there. The Indians were concentrated mainly in Arizona and New Mexico (table A).

The PDF to the right contains the 48-page report.