A group of women celebrates at the 26th Street Mexican Independence Parade in Chicago. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
Welcome back to Data Detective, where we walk step by step through public data to uncover what’s really happening in Illinois’ economic landscape.
This month, we’re recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month, and this edition asks the question:
How much economic output does Illinois’ Hispanic and Latino population generate—and how does that stack up compared to the rest of the country?
To answer this, we’ll turn to the Latino Donor Collaborative (LDC), a nonprofit think tank that has published an annual Latino GDP report since 2017, in partnership with Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business’ Seidman Research Institute. Their methodology builds Latino economic output from the ground up using BEA, Census, and BLS data.
Step 1: Find and Understand the Data
Go to the Latino Donor Collaborative site and select “See all our reports”. From there, select “The 2025 Official LDC U.S. Latino GDP Report™ – Part Two”, published September 2025. This is the most up-to-date information available. Download the report, and go to Chapter IV: State Economies, Mexican Americans, and U.S. Latino Immigrant Communities, and find Table 4.01: Summary of Local Latino Economies (page 52). This table breaks out every state’s Latino GDP for 2023 (the most recent year available at the time) plus growth history and 2030 forecasts.
This dataset instead calculates Latino GDP: the actual dollar value of economic output—production, consumption, and labor—generated by the Latino population in each state, built from the same federal economic building blocks used to calculate GDP for entire countries.
NOTE: This report is updated annually, and this edition uses 2023 data. Earlier LDC editions and a separate, older UCLA-affiliated state report used earlier figures. Always check which edition and data year you’re citing, since the numbers move meaningfully year to year.
Step 2: Pull Illinois’ Headline Number and Benchmark
In Table 4.01, Illinois’ 2023 Latino GDP was $145.2 billion, solidifying Illinois as the 5th-largest Latino GDP of any state in the country, trailing only California ($989.0B), Texas ($738.7B), Florida ($395.8B), and New York ($315.2B). Seidman’s forecast has Illinois’ Latino GDP reaching $207.5 billion by 2030.
Scan the rest of Table 4.01 for every other Midwest state: Indiana ($32.2B), Ohio ($31.3B), Michigan ($35.2B), Wisconsin ($23.1B), Minnesota ($21.0B), Missouri ($18.2B), Iowa ($11.2B), Kansas ($20.5B), Nebraska ($12.9B), North Dakota ($2.3B), South Dakota ($1.6B). None of these states come within a quarter of Illinois’ total—Illinois is the only Midwest state in the national top 10. Illinois makes up over 40% of the Midwest’s Latino GDP.
Step 3: Look at What’s Driving the Growth
This is where things get interesting: Table 4.01 shows that Latinos accounted for 42.9% of Illinois’ total state GDP growth between 2018 and 2023—a higher share than in California, Texas, or Florida, where the report notes Latinos drove roughly one-third of growth over the same period. Illinois’ Latino GDP itself grew at 3.8% annually, inflation-adjusted, adding $24.5 billion to the state’s economy over those five years.
Step 4: Note Illinois’ Distinct Mexican American Story
The report singles out Illinois by name as one of a handful of states, alongside California, Texas, and Arizona, with a “historically vibrant Mexican American community.” 71.1% of Illinois’ Latino GDP ($103.3 billion) comes from the Mexican American population specifically, putting Illinois in the same subgroup company as the largest Southwestern economies despite being the only Midwest state on that list. Illinois ranks third for Mexican American GDP, behind California ($747.9B), and Texas ($570.8B), yet vastly ahead of other competitor states such as Florida ($36.5B) and New York ($42.5B).
Step 5: Confirm It Isn’t Just GDP
The same top-five pattern holds up in a second, independent federal dataset: the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey. Illinois consistently ranks among the top five states in the nation for number of Hispanic-owned businesses, alongside California, Texas, Florida, and New York, and is once again the only Midwest state to appear in that tier, with roughly 18,471 Hispanic-owned employer businesses as of the most recent survey.
Key Takeaway
Illinois’ Hispanic and Latino population is one of the reasons the state’s economy is still growing. A $145.2 billion Latino GDP and a deep, historically rooted Mexican American business and consumer base tell a story beyond raw population figures. Illinois remains a hotspot in the Midwest for Latino business growth and investment.
Get Curious
What data would you like our Research Team to tackle next? Let us know, and we’ll dive in.
Until next time!
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