The Pew study found that 18 percent of three-person first- generation households live in poverty, higher than the U.S. rate of 13 percent. For the nation’s 20 million second-generation American households, only 11 percent have incomes below the poverty line.
Second-generation immigrants are more educated than the average American. Thirty-six percent of second-generation immigrants are college graduates, compared with 31 percent of all American adults and 29 percent of new immigrants.
The typical three-person U.S. household reported median income of $58,200, Pew said. Second-generation immigrants had median incomes of $58,100, and the median for first-generation households was $45,800.
One-third of Hispanic newcomers and 30 percent of first- generation Asian immigrants consider themselves to be “typical Americans.” That figure soared to 61 percent of both groups in the second generation, according to a pair of Pew surveys taken early last year.
Shared Optimism
The two groups also shared optimism about the benefits of working hard to succeed. Seventy-eight percent of second- generation Hispanics and 72 percent of Asian-Americans said it’s possible to succeed by working hard. Only 58 percent of the total U.S. population agreed, the Pew researchers said.
The study found some divergence between second-generation Hispanic and Asian immigrants. The children of Hispanic newcomers tend to work in lower-paying jobs and have less education. Fifty-five percent of second-generation Asians have a bachelor’s degree, compared with 21 percent of Hispanics. The median household income for second-generation Hispanics was $48,400, versus $67,500 for children of Asian immigrants.
“While large gaps remain between groups,” the Pew report said, “it is also the case that within each group, the second generation is doing better than the first on most key measures of economic success.”