Rising Latino population drives economic growth in Western Pennsylvania

New Spanish grocery stores are opening, adding a fresh flavor to the city. Amid the usual Pittsburgh traffic noise, reggaeton now pulses from car speakers, and local restaurants are featuring horchata on their menus.

The face of Western Pennsylvania is changing.

According to the 2022 Allegheny County Latinx Needs Assessment Report, the overall population of Pittsburgh grew by less than 1% between 2010 and 2020, while the Latino population in Pittsburgh grew by 80% in that same timeframe.

The growth in the Hispanic population in Pennsylvania accounts for more than 50 percent of the state’s population growth in the last two decades.

Dan DeBone, president/CEO of the Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce, recognizes the critical need to increase the population of Westmoreland County, which has lost more than 12,000 residents since the last census.

“It is essential that our community learns to accept and embrace others, including immigrant populations,” DeBone said. “These groups are often misunderstood but are vital to the growth and thriving of our region.”

Melanie Marie Boyer, executive director of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Foundation, knows Latinas are the most likely of any demographic to start a small business, and Hispanic women alone are responsible for 50% of all new jobs created in the U.S. for the last four years, according to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

“There is enough to go around for everyone,” Boyer said. “When we raise one group, we don’t push other ones down. I think we raise everyone together, and when you look at numbers economically speaking, there’s just no disputing that.”

Brenda Garcia, director of marketing communications at Casa San Jose in Beechview, a nonprofit community resource center, immigrated to Pittsburgh at age 4 and has watched the Latino population grow over the 29 years she has called the region home.

When she was younger, hearing Spanish in public was a rare treat.

“If I heard someone speaking Spanish at the grocery store, I’d say, ‘Mom! She’s speaking Spanish! Let’s go be her friend!’” Garcia said.

Today, Garcia can go practically anywhere in Pittsburgh and hear Spanish.

“Although the non-Latino community is on the (population) decline, the Latino community is on the rise, and I think that brings a lot of opportunity for growth,” Garcia said.

Garcia describes the Latino community as vibrant and always willing to help others. She sees parallels between current Latino population growth and Pittsburgh’s history of budding immigrant communities.

“There’s Little Italy, Polish Hill — and Beechview is our Latino hub,” Garcia said.

Immigrant groups have fought to integrate and join Pittsburgh society, sometimes with local pushback, according to Garcia. She recognizes that, for some, Latino population growth is unwelcome.

“It’s interesting how there’s this stigma that we’re taking jobs, but actually we’re creating them,” Garcia said.

A 2023 study by the Latino Donor Collaborative, a think tank dedicated to economic research on Latinos in the U.S., shows that Pennsylvania’s Latino economy is rapidly growing. The state’s Latino gross domestic income was $36 billion in 2021, according to the study’s analysis of Census data — that represents about 4.2% of the state’s gross domestic income. It has accounted for 18.4% of growth in the state’s gross domestic income between 2011 and 2021.

While the state’s economy is growing at a rate of 1.1% per year on average, the Latino sub-economy within the state is growing at 6.2%, Jose Jurado, a research economist at Arizona State University and lead author of the study told Pittsburgh’s NPR news station. According to Jurado, this shows the non-Latino labor cohort is shrinking, but the rapidly growing Latino workforce is offsetting the loss of those workers.

Albert Garcia, Association of Latino Professionals for America Pittsburgh president, said Pittsburgh won the developing chapter of the year in 2023 because of the growth and impact of Latino professionals in the region.

Guillermo Velazquez, executive director of Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation in Beechview, is proud of the Latino-led economic growth in the region. PHDC is dedicated to improving the lives of Hispanics in the region by supporting Latino-owned businesses and homeownership.

“What the corporation is doing is something that is missing in most cities in the United States — an organization to help immigrants get inserted correctly into society,” Velazquez said.

Since 2018, the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation has incorporated 152 new companies in Pittsburgh — 61 women-owned — and 185 individuals have been connected with employment.

Nureddyn Balloud, 29, an employee at the Hispanic development corporation, found the organization when he arrived from Venezuela and was searching for a house to rent. After the organization helped him find a house, it asked for his resume and offered him a job. Balloud said he loves the U.S. because it’s a land of opportunity.

“Once you’re in the United States, you can work wherever you want and develop your English skills and professional skills,” Balloud said.

Velazquez receives phone calls from Latino immigrants in different states asking the development corporation to help them start their own companies.

“I say we can’t help you because you live in a different city, and they say it doesn’t matter, ‘We’ll move to Pittsburgh,”’ Velazquez said.

He hopes non-Latinos understand Latinos are interested in relocating from states such as California, Florida and New York to the Western Pennsylvania region because of its affordability and economic opportunity.

“That’s a good problem to have,” Velazquez said. “What matters is, ‘How can we channel these people correctly so they can be successful?’”

Velazquez takes pride in the development corporation equipping Latinos who didn’t finish elementary school or high school to create their own business.

“They know how to cook,” Velazquez said. “They know how to clean. They know how to do roofing. They know how to do landscaping. So how can you teach them to be business owners?”