U.S. Latino GDP surpasses Japan to become the World’s 4th largest GDP. Rapid growth pushes U.S. Latino GDP to $4.4 trillion in 2024.

New data from leading researchers at UCLA and California Lutheran University indicate that Latinos continue powering economic growth for the U.S. economy.

“New data indicate that the U.S. Latino GDP was not only larger and growing faster in 2024, but it shattered records for economic vibrancy,” said Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, distinguished professor of medicine at UCLA, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at UCLA Fielding, and co-author of the report. “Latinos are key to a bright future for the United States.” 

According to the 2026 U.S. Latino GDP Report, set for full release in May, Latino GDP reached $4.4 trillion in 2024. The total economic output (GDP) of U.S. Latinos now represents the fourth largest GDP in the world. Already larger than India’s and Great Britain’s, as demonstrated in the 2025 report, the economic output of U.S. Latinos is larger than the GDP of Japan for the first time.

“Now surpassing the GDP of Japan, the U.S. Latino GDP illustrates just how vital Latino strength and resilience are for the nation’s economy,” said Dr. Matthew Fienup, executive director of the Center for Economic Research & Forecasting at Cal Lutheran and a co-author of the report. 

Extraordinary growth of U.S. Latino GDP is driven, in part, by strong contributions to the nation’s population and labor force. For the first time in history, one of every five people living in the United States is Latino. In 2024, the Latino labor force grew 5.5 percent, the single strongest growth on record and 4.2 percentage points stronger than Non-Latino. The Latino labor force participation rate sits at an all-time high of 69 percent, a record 6.2 percentage points higher than Non-Latino participation.

Key findings:

• 2024 U.S. Latino GDP is $4.4 trillion, representing the fourth largest GDP in the world. U.S. Latino GDP is now nearly 9 percent larger than the entire economy of Japan.
• Growth of real Latino GDP was 6.4 percent in 2024, compared to only 2.4 percent for Non-Latino GDP. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Latino GDP is the single fastest growing among major economies, growing even faster than India’s.
• The U.S. Latino population is now over 68 million. For the first time in history, one out of every five people living in the United States is Latino. Latinos’ population growth is currently 5.8 times as fast as growth of the Non-Latino population.
• There were 35.1 million Latinos in the U.S. labor force in 2024, up 46.5 percent since 2010. The Latino labor force grew 7.2 times faster than Non-Latino over this period.

“The strong labor force growth demonstrates a Latino demographic resilience that has truly driven the country’s overall economic growth,” noted UCLA Fielding's Dr. Paul Hsu, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and a co-author of the report.

The 2026 U.S. Latino GDP Report is the latest in a series which documents the large and rapidly growing economic contribution of Latinos living in the United States. It is also the 32nd full-length report that the Latino GDP Project has produced as part of an ambitious research initiative which analyzes the contributions of Hispanic males and females across various geographies 

To download the full report upon its release in May, please visit:  www.LatinoGDP.us

Funding and Methodology

The 2026 U.S. Latino GDP Report is produced by the Latino GDP Project, a project of Community Partners with the Center for Economic Research & Forecasting at California Lutheran University and the Center for the Study of Latino Health & Culture at UCLA.

For questions about the report, please contact: Matthew Fienup, chief economist (mfienup@callutheran.edu); and David Hayes-Bautista, chief demographer (dhayesb@ucla.edu).