Social
Latino versus White Graduation Rates in Texas (2015-2021) Mireya Long* Emma Wood Mireya Long Chantel
Intro:
There is historical concern that persons of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity are graduating high school
at lower rates in Texas than other groups. It is unclear if that is true across the state of Texas and
if trends are changing over time.
Methods:
This cross-sectional geographic study looked at the percent of Latino US adults who graduated
high school or completed the GED compared to the percent of White US adults within census
tracts in Texas. Using available 5-year data from the American Community Survey in 2015,
2018, and 2021, we calculated the ratio of graduation percentages and ran a hot spot analysis for
each year to compare change over time.
Results:
Each hotspot analysis showed that Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, and McAllen, Texas
have a higher ratio of graduated Latino adults than White adults. Northeast Texas showed
consistently higher rates of graduated White adults than Latino adults. Over time, the ratios in
the Dallas area of graduated Latino adults to graduated White adults got closer to one, which
means the percentages of graduated adults are closer to the same for both ethnicities.
Conclusion:
There is a general trend of equalizing percentages of high school attainment among Latinos and
Whites. There are still areas of Texas (mostly in the Northeast) that have statistically
significantly higher percentages of graduated White adults than graduated Latino adults.
Therefore, the state should prioritize educational programs that target groups that are not
reaching equal attainment.
