1 in 10 restaurants in the US serve Mexican cuisine, reflecting expanding population, study shows

Food is deeply ingrained in cultural identity, and is one way to learn about a community's heritage, familial customs and values. In the U.S., Mexican food is one of the most popular cuisines, with 1 in 10 restaurants serving Mexican, according to recent findings from the Pew Research Center. This trend reflects an expanding Mexican American population, with 37.2 million people or 11.2% of the U.S. population tracing their ancestry back to Mexico.

In the 2010s, the U.S. Hispanic population grew by 23%, a rate that outpaced the nation's overall population growth of 7%, according to the Census Bureau. Of the Hispanic population living in the U.S., nearly 60% identify as Mexican American.

Pew Research Center reported that 85% of counties in the U.S. have at least one Mexican restaurant. The other 15% of counties without any Mexican cuisine tend to be smaller populations, representing 1% of the entire U.S. population.

The data analyzed by Pew Research Center comes from SafeGraph, which collects information on millions of places of interest around the world, as well as the review site Yelp.

Where are Mexican restaurants most common?

California and Texas are home to a majority of the Mexican American population, as well as 40% of all Mexican restaurants in the country, with 22% in the Golden state and 17% in the Lonestar state. About 30% of California's Mexican restaurants are located In Los Angeles County. And in Texas, 17% of the state's Mexican restaurants are in Harris County, home to Houston.

There are 10 counties in the U.S. where Mexican restaurants make up more than a third of all dining establishments. Eight of these 10 counties are in Texas, with a majority located near the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Categorizing Mexican American food

Of the Mexican restaurants that exist in the U.S., 22% are considered “fast food," compared to 12% that specialize in serving tacos, and another 8% that are classified as food trucks. Six percent of Mexican restaurants offer “Tex-Mex” food, which is a fusion of American and Mexican cuisine, influenced from Tejano culture.

A majority of Mexican food is moderately priced, according to the analysis. Of the restaurants with pricing data, 61% are rated with one “dollar sign” on Yelp.

Less than 1% of all Mexican restaurants nationwide have a rating of three or four dollar signs on Yelp, according to Pew Research Center. About 25% of the more expensive Mexican restaurants are located in Los Angeles County, Cook County, Illinois, and New York County, N.Y.

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