1980-2000 Change over Time and Regional Variation in U.S. Racial and Ethnic Intermarriage

Vincent K. Fu, University of Utah

I examine 1980-2000 change over time and regional variation in U.S. racial and ethnic intermarriage. Studies of intermarriage typically assume that (1) intermarriage tendencies are uniform across the nation and (2) people choose their spouse from a pool that has the nation's racial and ethnic composition. I relax both assumptions by describing regional heterogeneity in intermarriage and I also provide a national assessment of change over time in intermarriage that accounts for the uneven geographic distribution of groups. Between 1980 and 1990, the tendency to marry within one's own group declined by 70 percent for Black/White intermarriage and 40 percent for Latino/White intermarriage. Blacks/White intermarriage tendencies were strongest in the West and weakest in the South. Latino/White intermarriage tendencies were strongest in Florida and the West, and weakest in the Northeast.