Document Type
Research Report
Publication Date
7-2023
Abstract
Westfield has a population of 40,834, of whom 3,942 identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 Decennial Census. The majority of the city identifies as non- Latino White (82.1%), while Latinos 9.7% are the second largest population; Black, Asian, and “other” populations make up the remaining 8.2%. The Latino share of Westfield’s population is lower than the statewide Latino share, which is 12.6%.
Westfield underwent significant population shifts between 2010 and 2020. The city’s population decreased by 0.6%, while the statewide population increased by 7.4%. The Latino population increase of 27.3% is lower than the statewide Latino population increase of 41.4% during this same time. The larger White population declined by 7.7%, while the smaller Asian population grew at a faster rate of 79.7%, and the Black population by a rate of 30.8%. Thus, the increase in the non-White populations helped minimize the city’s population decline.
The remainder of this profile uses 2017–2021 American Community Survey data to analyze the demographic and economic characteristics presented in this profile.
The Latino population in Westfield, as in neighboring Springfield, is dominated by Puerto Ricans, who number 3,431. Other smaller Latino populations include Dominicans (305), Peruvians, Hondurans, and Guatemalans though each of the last three groups numbers fewer than 20 persons. Statewide, the five largest Latino populations in Massachusetts in order of size are Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Mexicans.
Partly because the great majority of Latinos in Westfield are Puerto Ricans population, who are U.S. citizens, Westfield has a small foreign-born population, making up only 9.9% of the city’s residents. Only 4.6% of Latinos in Westfield are foreign-born, compared to 32.1% for the entire state. (Note that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth, whether born on the island or the mainland.) By comparison, foreign-born make up 17.3% of the statewide population.
Community Engaged/Serving
Part of the UMass Boston Community-Engaged Teaching, Research, and Service Series. //scholarworks.umb.edu/engage
Recommended Citation
Granberry, Phillip; Martins, Victor Luis; and Borges, Michelle, "Latinos in Massachusetts Selected Areas: Westfield" (2023). Gastón Institute Publications. 306.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/gaston_pubs/306
Included in
Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Latina/o Studies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons