This morning, St. Louis city leaders plan to join members of the Latino community to hoist the Hispanic Heritage flag at City Hall. St. Louis County undertook a similar installation Friday morning.
It’s just one sign of the community’s growing presence in the region. Among the nation’s largest metros, the St. Louis area ranks ninth for Latino population growth in 2024 Census data, says Saint Louis University demographer Ness Sandoval.
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Growing up in Florissant, Elisa Bender recalls being the only Hispanic person in her grade school—-and the excitement she felt when a second one enrolled in high school. Now, she says, the signs of growth are all around. Near her home in O’Fallon, Missouri, are two different Catholic churches offering a Spanish mass and she likes that the community is not relegated to any one part of town. “Talking to Hispanics who just moved here, they like the affordable living. And they love that the city’s not too big. They love that there are good schools,” she says. “Yes, there’s not a lot of Hispanics here, but as they’re finding community, they’re really enjoying it and liking it.”
Even so, St. Louis has a long way to go. One reason we can post what looks like large gains in the data is that historically, Latinos do not have as big of a presence here compared to our Midwestern peers in Chicago and Kansas City. Even today, the St. Louis area is just 6.3 percent Latino, far below the 19.5 percent nationally.
And Sandoval, for one, worries St. Louis’ gains among Hispanics could be eclipsed by Cincinnati, which led large metros in terms of Latino gains for the second year in a row. It saw the Latino population grow 12 percent, followed by Pittsburgh with 11 percent Latino growth. “If Cincinnati posts another strong year, St. Louis will fall to 29th place among the top 30 metros in Latino population size,” he warns. One bright spot has been the city of St. Louis, which again increased its number of Latino (and Asian) residents, even as both the Black and white population has declined, Sandoval says.
Go Deeper: This weekend, the Greater St. Louis Hispanic Festival will fill Soulard Park, and Bender is frustrated that the narrative in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is all about the fears that ICE will put a damper on festivities. Yes, the community is ready for disruption if it occurs, but she feels optimistic after seeing the giant turnout (and lack of ICE presence) at this year’s Festival of Nations. The annual Fiesta in Florissant also experienced no problems.
“We understand there’s a part of the community where they’re not comfortable even leaving their house right now, but there still is a majority of us who do, and it’s almost like, we won’t let anyone take our culture away,” Bender says. And for every Latino who might be worried enough to stay home, Bender expects to see an ally who wants to support the community, saying she’s heard from other groups who feel targeted by the presidential administration. “It’s great to see new allies.”
What’s Next: Bender is excited for the festival, which she says brings together a remarkably diverse community. The daughter of Bolivian immigrants, she laughs that people often assume she’s Mexican—but in a community with just 117,293 people across the metro, everyone comes together, immigrant and native-born, South American, Central American, and Mexican. “We’re all, like, one big community here in St. Louis, and there’s so much love that goes around,” she says. “ And at these festivals, there’s so much camaraderie.”
