There is much to learn about the participation of the nation’s minority populations in the U.S. economy and in Iowa. In Iowa, the preponderance of net population growth during the current decade has been due to minority population increases.

This report is a straightforward comparison of the economic participation characteristics of white only and minority persons residing in Iowa at the time of the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS). Hispanics or others that are considered part of the nation’s minority populations are classified as minorities in this study. The white only population is actually, therefore, white and not Hispanic. The Census Bureau samples a substantial fraction of the U.S. and state populations in preparing their annual estimates of the U.S. population. Those data are available as the Public‐Use Micro‐Sample (PUMS) for regions within states (called PUMS regions), states, and for the nation. This report assesses the PUMS one‐percent sample for the state of Iowa for 2006: that means that we are using a sample of the population to infer to the characteristics of all Iowans.